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SEBASTIAN    CABOT. 


John  and  Sebastian  Cabot. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICE, 


WITH     DOCUMENTS. 


BY    FRANCESCO    TARDUCCI. 


TRANSLA  TED  FROM  ITALIA!? 


BY    HENRY    F     BROWN SOX 


•  3       >  >        >        •       »  )  )     !l 

->->-)■>'        >      I 


DETROIT: 
H,  F   BROWNSON,  PUBLISHER, 

33  and  35  CONGRESS  STREET,  WEST. 
1893. 


-CA 


r*. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  Eighteen  Handred  and  Ninety  Three. 
BY  HENRY  F.  BROWNSON. 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE. 


The  original  edition  of  this  work  in  Italian  is  published  at  the 
charge  of  the  Royal  Commission  of  National  History  of  Venice. 
This  translation  is  authorized  by  that  Commission  as  well  as  by 
the  Author. 

A  comparison  of  the  translation  with  the  original  publication  will 
show  that  they  vary  in  some  places.  In  every  instance  of  the  sort, 
the  variance  has  been  suggested  or  authorized  by  Professor 
Tarducci,  and  will  be  conformed  to  in  the  next  Italian  edition. 

The  Author's  letter  of  Dedication  shows  how  he  was  led  to  write 
this  story  of  the  Cabots;  and  points  out  the  propriety  of  such  work 
after  the  publication  of  his  "Life  of  Christopher  Columbus,"  and  the 
seasonableness  of  the  work  as  his  contribution  to  the  Festivals  now 
celebrating  in  honor  of  the  great  Genoese  and  the  discovery  of 
America. 

Next  in  time,  as  in  importance,  to  the  discovery  of  the  Bahamas 
and  West  Indies  by  Columbus,  was  the  discovery  of  the  northern 
part  ot  America  by  the  Cabots.  I  may  he  pardoned  for  adding 
that  the  latter  discovery  must  be  regarded  by  the  historian  as 
infinitely  more  beneficial  to  mankind  than  the  former. 

These  two  discoveries,  the  fir*!  by  a  Genoese,  the  second  by  Vene- 
tians, transferred  the  control  of  the  world's  commerce  from  Genoa 
and  Venice  to  the  Iberian  peninsula  and  the  British  Isles.  Genoa 
and  Venice  gave  birth  to  the  heroes  wh»se  achievements  were  to 

250257 


iv  translator's  preface. 

strip  them  of  the  glorious  rank  they  had  previously  enjoyed,  and 
raise  two  other  states  to  the  pinnacle  of  greatness,  where  they  vied 
with  each  other  in  ingratitude  to  their  great  benefactors. 

The  importance  of  the  discovery  of  John  Cabot,  and  its  con- 
tinuation by  his  son  Sebastian,  can  hardly  be  over-estimated.  It  is 
nothing  derogatory  to  the  glory  of  Christopher  Columbus,  who 
must  ever  be  honored  as  the  greatest  of  discoverers,  to  say  that  John 
Cabot  preceded  him  in  the  attempt  at  trans- Atlantic  discovery,  and 
although  San  Salvador  was  discovered  nearly  two  years  before  the 
English  possessions  were,  Cabot  would  have  succeeded  had  Colum- 
bus never  lived. 

Nor  does  it  amount  to  any  thing  to  say  that  the  discovery  to  the 
north  would  have  been  the  inevitable  result  of  European  acquaint- 
ance with  the  West  Indies;  for  it  is  equally  true  that  the  discovery  of 
these  and  of  all  south  would  have  followed  the  discovery  of  "New- 
foundland." Cabot  had  been  for  years  looking  for  land  to  the  west, 
led  by  a  course  of  reasoning  similar  to  that  which  influenced  Co- 
lumbus, and  had  Columbus  never  lived,  would  have  been  Columbus. 

Columbus  and  Cabot  looked  for  a  land  of  gold  and  spices.  Colum- 
bus found  the  lands  rich  in  precious  metals,  and  the  result  there 
has  been  four  centuries  of  cruelty,  slavery,  and  oppression,  of  des- 
potism and  anarchy.  Cabot  found  a  land  whose  only  wealth  was 
in  the  cod-fish  that  swarmed  on  its  coasts;  but  that  land  became 
the  cradle  of  liberty  and  justice,  of  resistance  to  tyranny  and  oppres- 
sion, the  refuge  of  the  enslaved  and  down-trodden  of  every  clime. 
The  world,  humanity,  is  better,  nobler,  happier,  for  the  discovery 
made  by  Cabot;  has  any  real  benefit  to  mankind  resulted  from  the 
lands  south  of  us  ? 

Let  not  this  be  taken  as  casting  any  slur  on  the  character  or  senti- 
ments of  Christopher  Columbus.  What  happened  was  against  his 
will,  and  in  spite  of  all  he  could  do  to  prevent  it.  Cabot  was,  appar- 


ently,  a  man  of  his  times.  Columbus  was  above  and  beyond  all 
times.  No  pent-up  notions  contracted  his  heart  ;  his  aspirations 
were  sublime;  his  affections  as  broad  as  the  universe.  The  man  who 
wrote,  as  Columbus  did  in  one  of  his  letters,  "I  say  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  works  in  the  Christian  and  in  the  Jew  ;  in  the  Moor  and  in 
every  one  in  every  religion;"*  may  have  lived  in  the  Fifteenth 
Century,  but  his  soul  is  at  home  in  the  Nineteenth. 

Columbus  sought  for  a  new  world  that  the  Gospel  might  be  made 
known  to  millions  who  had  never  heard  the  glad  tidings  of  salva- 
tion; and  for  gold  that  he  might  subsidize  hosts  for  the  delivery  of 
the  Holy  Land.  The  Cabots  sought  to  discover  unknown  regions 
for  the  sake  of  the  discovery  and  the  extension  of  commerce  and 
geographical  knowledge. 

The  untiring  industry  of  our  author  in  the  examination  of  the  rec- 
ords and  documents  has  enabled  him  to  fix  the  date  of  the  dis- 
covery of  the  American  Continent  by  John  Cabot  and  his  sons  as 
June  24,  1494.  His  acuteness  in  historical  criticism  has  established 
the  Venetian  nationality  of  both  John  and  Sebastian;  the  discovery 
by  Sebastian  of  Hudson  Strait,  Hudson  Bay,  and  Fox  Channel.  He 
has  successfully  defended  Sebastian  Cabot  from  the  only  serious 
charge  ever  brought  against  him,  and  given  a  faithful  portrait  of 
him  as  a  leader  who  may  have  made  a  mistake  in  his  policy  towards 
the  mutinous  officers  he  was  obliged  to  take  with  him  on  his  expe- 
dition of  1526  ;  but  was  always  just  and  fair,  and  only  deficient  at 
times  in  the  severity  he  should  have  exhibited.  This  expedition,  in 
the  light  of  the  new  documents  used  by  Tarducci,  takes  on  quite  an- 
other aspect  than  it  previously  presented. 

It  is  further  claimed  for  Sebastian  Cabot  that  to  him  is  due  the 


*  Let  not  Columbus,  nor  the  present  writer  be  misapprehended.     There  are 
other  workings  of  the  Holy  Ghost  besides  that  of  sanctifying  grace. 


VI  TRANSLATOR  S  PREFACE. 

commercial  greatness  of  England  ;  and  if  so,  of  course  also  that  of 
the  United  States, 

Sebastian  Cabot,  moreover,  was  the  first  to  propose,  and  to  at- 
tempt to  solve  the  great  problem  of  the  north-west  passage, — a  prob- 
lem which  may  yet  remain  unsolved  till  the  next  century;  but  to 
which  we  owe  some  of  the  most  sublime  examples  of  heroism  and 
endurance  the  human  race  can  boast  of. 

Columbus  stands  on  a  solid  pedestal  as  the  greatest  of  the  world's 

discoverers,  but  Tarducci  claims  for  the    Cabots  a  rank  above  all 

others  except  Columbus  himself,  and  it  is  most  conformable  to  the 

fitness  of  things  that  the  same  author  should  have  written  the  life 

of  all  three. 

Detroit,  Jan.  16,1893. 

H.F.  BROWNSON. 


To  THE 

COUNTESS  GABRIELLA  SPALLETTI, 

Rome. 
Most  Noble  Countess  : 

As  the  Centenary  Festival  of  the  Discovery  of  America  is  near  at 
hand,  I  have  pondered  much  what  I  could  do  to  take  an  active  part 
in  it,  it  seeming  to  me  that,  after  writing  the  Life  of  Christopher 
Columbus,  I  was  almost  under  a  moral  obligation  to  be  something 
more  than  a  mere  spectator.  After  much  reflection  I  resolved 
to  write  about  the  Cabots.  I  saw  plainly  that  the  task  was  serious, 
and  one  that  might  well  affright  greater  ability  than  mine  ;  but  the 
subject  entered  so  opportunely,  or  rather  so  rightfully,  into  the 
Festival,  that  its  seasonableness  overcame  my  hesitation.  In  fact,  the 
Cabots  were  the  first  to  discover  the  mainland  of  America,  less  than 
two  years  after  Christopher  Columbus's  discovery  ;  so  that,  after 
the  great  Genoese,  no  one  has  an  equal  claim  to  be  remembered 
and  celebrated  at  these  centenary  Festivals.  I  set  myself  therefore 
to  work  with  all  the  vigor  I  am  capable  of;  and  all  the  time  which 
the  obstinate  malady  of  my  eyes  allowed  me  to  employ,  and  which 
the  occupation  of  teaching  left  me  free  from  the  duties  of  the 
school,  I  have  dedicated  to  the  Story  of  the  Cabots.  Nor  has 
the  difficulty  of  the  path,  great  as  it  has  been,  ever  lessened  my 
zeal  or  tired  my  energy  while  I  had  it  ever  in  view  to  arrive  in 
time  and  not  fail  to  make  some  contribution  to  this  Festival.  I  had 
already  travelled  a  great  part  of  my  way,  and  the  hope  of  finish- 
ing all  began  to  become  a  certainty,  when  an  unforseen  difficulty 
threatened  to  render  useless  all  my  care  and  labor.  In  the  scarcity  of 


Vlll  DEDICATION. 

documents  on  the  Cabots,  it  was  most  important  for  me  to  have 
the  records  of  the  suit  against  Sebastian  Cabot,  which  are  preserved 
in  the  Spanish  archives,  and  never  published  nor  studied  by  any 
one,  and  a  few  other  documents,  either  known  only  by  name,  or 
erroneously  known,  which  are  kept  in  the  same  archives.  My  anxiety 
to  procure  copies  of  them,  or  at  least  to  know  somewhat  fully  their 
contents,  was  as  great  as  their  importance.  But  wherever  I  turned  to 
knock,  I  found  people  too  busy  to  attend  to  me.  I  thus  found  myself 
on  the  point  of  either  giving  out  my  work  sadly  defective,  or  putting 
off  its  publication  indefinitely.  The  former  I  would  not  do,  and 
the  latter  was  painful  to  me.  But  in  a  happy  moment  I  thought 
of  you  and  of  your  many  connections  and  1  wrote  to  you  explaining 
my  case.  You  took  the  matter  to  heart,  and  soon  afterwards  1  re- 
ceived beautiful  copies  of  the  coveted  documents. 

Now,  then,  that  I  reach  the  bank  at  last,  and  present  to  the 
Public  my  history  of  the  Cabots,  such  as  it  is,  it  is  right  that  I 
should  place  your  name  in  front  of  it,  for  you  have  been  in  a  certain 
fashion  a  colaborer  in  my  work.  I  know  that  what  I  present  you  is 
too  little,  but  the  Poet  said  :  * 

"I  give  thee  all,  I  can  no  more. 
Though  poor  the  offering  be.  " 

But  though  my  book  lack  the  merit  that  would  make  it  a  worthy 
offering  to  a  polished  and  noble  Lady,  I  trust  that  the  attestation 
it  bears  of  my  gratitude  will  render  it  acceptable  in  your  eyes. 
Piobbico.  August  1,  1892. 

Your  most  Dev.  and  Obt. 

FRANCESCO  TARDUCCI. 

*  "  Ne  che  poco  io  vi  dia  da  imputar  sono; 
Che  quaato  io  posso  dar  tutto  vi  dono.  " 


CONTENTS. 


Translator's  Preface iii 

Dedicatory  Letter, ,         vii 

CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

John  Cabot's  Native  Land, 1 

CHAPTER  II. 

Venice.— Its  Relations  with  England.  —Voyages  of  the  People  of  the  North 
in  the  North  Seas. — Youth  of  John  Cabot.— His  Endowments  of  Mind  and 
Heart, 29 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  First  Discovery  of  1494,  39 

CHAPTER  IV. 

What  Point  in  North  America  it  was  that   John  Cabot  first  discovered  in 
1494  —Attempt  to  deprive  him  of  the  honor, 50 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  First  Letters  Patent.— Expedition  of  1497, 64 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  second  Letters   Patent.— Preparations  for  the  expedition  of   1498, 
—John  Cabot's  Death,    .  73 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Sebastian  Cabot, 78 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Expedition  of  1498, 90 

CHAPTER  IX. 
A  Period  of  Obscurity, Hi) 

CHAPTER  X. 
Sebastian  Cabot  passes  to  the  service  of  Spain, 116 


11  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

PAGE 

Sebastian  Cabot  back  in  England, 121 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Sebastian   Cabot  discovered  the   Strait  and  Bay  which  were  afterwards 
named    from    Hudson, 128 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Return    to    Spain, 138 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Repeated  attempts  to  rind  a  passage  through  the  new  lands  of  America  to 
reach  the  eastern  shore  of  Asia.— Magellan. — Resentment  of  Portugal 
against  Spain  on  account  of  his  voyage 147 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Sebastian  Cabot  put  at  the  head  of  an  expedition  to  the  Moluccas,  151 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Sailing  of  the  expedition, 161 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Continuation  of  the  voyage, 177 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Exploration  of  the  River  La  Plata, 196 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
Diego  Garcia, •        •        •" 

CHAPTER  XX. 
Cabot's  Return  to  Spain, 226 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Arrival  in  Spain »        •        •    ^45 

*  CHAPTER  XXII. 

Return  to  England, 361 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
Project  of  navigation  to  the  N<>t th-East, .272 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
Expedition  to  the  North-East,         .        .        .         .      •  .        .        .        •        283 

CHAPTER  XXV 
Sebastian  Cabot's  Death,                 ...        »        ....        808 
Appendix «  .313 


JOHN  AND  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 


CHAPTER  I. 

John   Cabot's  native  land.* 

August  11th,  1472,  the  senate  of  Venice,  Nicholas  Trono 
Doge,  conferred  citizenship  of  Venice,  by  virtue  of  a  new  natur- 
alization law,  on  one  Luigi  Fontana  of  Bergamo.  Many  others, 
after  Fontana,  obtained  the  same  Venetian  naturalization,  but 
in  their  case  the  secretary  of  the  senate  instead  of  register- 
ing the  whole  decree  each  time,  merely  recorded  that  the  same 
privilege  as  to  Fontana  was  granted  to  such  a  one  on  such 
a  day  and  year  :  simile  privilegium  factum  fait  provido  viro  etc. 
(Among  the  names  so  mentioned  we  find  that  of  John  Cabot  for 
the  year  1476,  and  this  is  the  first  appearance  of  that  name  in 
history.  f| 

The  naturalization  conferred  by  Venice,  not  considering  or- 
dinary citizenship  which  had  its  special  duties  and  rights,  was 
of  two  sorts,  one  inferior,  called  de  intus,  the  other  greater,  and 
called  de  intus  et  extra:  both  had  to  be  voted  by  the  senate.  The 
citizenship  de  intus  only  admitted  to  certain  inferior  employ- 
ments and  the  exercise  of  certain  rights  within  the  city;  that  of 
intus  et  extra  extended  also  to  all  the  rights  of  a  Venetian 
citizen  outside  of  Venice.     John  Cabot  received  this  latter 

*  S<-e  Appendix  1. 

f  Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  Joanni  Caboto  sub  duce  suprascripto  1476. 

1 


2     •■■■■  • '  '■'   '  .'      •••■     :  THELfFK'OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

and  by  unanimous  vote  on  March  28,  1476.*  To  acquire  this 
citizenship,  besides  services  to  the  Republic,  only  two  condi- 
tions were  at  that  time  requisite,  namely,  uninterrupted  resi- 
dence in  Venice  for  15  years  at  least,  and  to  have  borne  during 
that  period  the  burdens  and  imposts  of  the  Venetian  govern- 
ment, f 

But  whence  did  he  come  ?  where  was  he  born  ? 

Till  within  a  few  years  this  question  had  not  aroused  the 
curiosity  of  the  learned  ;  and  as  the  few  documents  concerning 
him  spoke  of  him  as  a  Venetian,  he  was  always  called  so 
without  further  inquiry.  The  question  was  started  by  a 
document  discovered  by  a  Prussian,  G.  A.  Bergenroth  in  the 
archives  of  Simancas.J  This  document  is  a  cypher  despatch 
wThich  Don  Pedro  de  Ayala,  Spanish  ambassador  to  the  Eng- 
lish court,  sent  to  his  sovereigns  July  25,  1498,  informing 
them  of  the  discovery  made  by  the  English  of  certain  islands 
and  continents,  encroaching,  as  he  believed,  on  the  rights  of 
Spain.  Now  Ayala  in  his  dispatch  calls  the  discoverer  of 
these  islands  a  Genoese  like  Columbus,  and  in  two  other  places 
where  he  mentions  him,  he  calls  him  a  Genoese.  The  discoverer 
of  whom  he  is  speaking  is  John  Cabot.  Later,  the  searches 
of  Henry  Harrisse  brought  to  light  from  the  same  archives 
two  despatches  of  Ruy  Gonzales  de  Puebla,  another  Spanish 
ambassador  to  England,  in  which  John  Cabot  is  also  given 
as  a  Genoese.  Moreover,  he  is  likewise  called  a  Genoese  in 
some  English  chronicles,  which  words  had  escaped  the  atten- 


*1476  die  28  Martii,  Quod  fiat  privilegium  civilitatis  de  intus  et  extra 
Joanni  Caboto  per  habitationem  annorum  xv.  juxta  consueturn.De  parte  149. De 
nou  O.  Nou  sinceri  O.  This  document  is  taken  from  the  records  of  the  Vene- 
tian Senate,  series  called  Senato-Terra,  as  relating  to  the  government  of  the 
main-land,  and  commencing  in  1440.  It  was  first  published  by  Romanin, 
Storia  Documentata  T.  iv.  p.  453. 

t  Quicumque  annis  xv.  vel  inde  supra,  Venetiis  coutinue  habitasset ; 
factiones  et  onera  nostri  dominii  ipso  tempore  subeundo  a  modo  civis  et 
Venetus  noster  esset. 

i  Simancas  isji  small  city  in  the  province  of  Valladolid,  in  tjie  castle  of  which 
the  Spanish  archives  are  kept,  not  only  those  of  the  Peninsula  and  the  adjacent 
islands,  but  also  those  of  the  former  Spanish  states  in  Flanders,  Italy,  and 
Portugal. 


VENETIAN  CLAIM.  6 

tion  of  historians  until  Bergenroth's  discovery  started  the 
question  as  to  the  native  land  of  John  Cabot. 

The  learned  Prussian's  discovery  was  joyfully  received  by 
the  patriotic  Ligurians  who  labored  with  praiseworthy  zeal 
to  find  further  support  for  the  vague  assertions  of  the  Spanish 
ambassadors  and  the  English  chronicles.  On  the  other  side, 
the  Venetians,  who  had  always  before  been  proud  of  John 
Cabot  as  a  fellow-countryman  were  not  idle,  but  wiped  the 
dust  off  charters  and  documents  to  combat  the  pretensions  of 
Genoa  and  confirm  their  own  claims.  But  the  result  of  the  re- 
searches was  not  satisfactory  to  the  zeal  of  either  side.  At  Venice 
tradition  would  have  him  born  in  an  insignificant  place  called 
Castello,  peopled  mainly  by  sea-faring  men,  and  the  zealous 
inhabitants  inscribed  this  tradition  on  a  stone  for  the  infor- 
mation of  strangers  ;  but  it  had  no  better  or  older  con- 
firmation than  an  anonymous  article  in  a  Venetian  journal  of 
the  last  century  containing  these  words  :  "It  is  the  constant  and 
undoubted  report  that  he  was  a  Venetian,  and  we  are  able  to 
assert  that  he  was  born  at  Castello."-  Carlo  Bullo  patriotically 
claims  for  his  own  Chioggia  the  honor  of  being  the  cradle  of 
John  Cabot,  but  only  his  love  of  his  own  country  could  have 
discovered  any  argument  or  indication  in  support  of  his  claim  ; 
for  here  too  all  depends  on  the  authority  of  an  anonymous 
writer  in  an  annual  of  1786,  who  says  :  "Cabot,  a  Venetian, 
born  at  Chioggia  discovered  North  America  for  the  English."! 
What  proof  do  these  anonymous  writers  bring  of  their 
assertion  ?  None  whatever. 

Federico  Stefani  expressed  a  doubt  that  the  name  Caboto 
was  originally  written  Cha'  Botto  or  Ca  Botto,^:  which  would 
be  a  strong  proof  that  he  was  a  Venetian,  for  this  cha'  or 
ca',  an  abbreviation  of  Casata  (house  or  family),  is  very  com- 
mon in  Venetian  surnames,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  historic  sur- 


*  Minerva,  a  Venetian  journal,  1763,  cited  by  Pasini.  1  Navigatori  al  Polo 
Artico,  Venezia,  1880. 

f  C.  Bullo,  La  Vera  Patria  diNicolbae*  Conti  e  di  Giovanni  Caboto,  Chioggia, 
Duse,  1880. 

%  See  Archivio  storico  di  Venezia — Essay  by  Rawdon  Brown.  Venezin, 
Antonelli,  1865,  p.  143. 


4  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

names,  Ca'da  Mosto,  Ca'da  Pesaro,  and  also  in  those  of  many 
city  families.  The  doubt  is  ingenious,  and  if  it  could  be  sup- 
ported by  any  instance  of  ancient  spelling  it  might  be  of 
some  weight  in  favor  of  Venice,  but  no  such  instance  can 
be  found. 

The  investigation  has,  then,  been  wholly  fruitless,  so  far  as 
concerns  Venice. 

On  the  part  of  Genoa,  the  most  pains-taking  investigator 
has  been  Cornell o  Desimoni,  but  at  the  conclusion  of  his 
labor  he  was  forced  to  confess  that  he  had  unfortunately  been 
able  to  find  nothing.*  Reducing  the  matter,  then,  to  simple 
induction,  he  is  inclined  to  look  for  the  birthplace  of  John 
Cabot  in  Savona,  because  he  finds  in  that  city  two  surnames, 
one  not  very  dissimilar  to,  the  other  very  like  that  he  is 
in  search  of,  namely,  the  patrician  family  of  Gavotto,  and  the 
plebeian  Cabuto.  The  former  furnished  masters  of  ships  in 
the  very  days  of  John  Cabot  ;  the  second  can  be  traced  back 
in  the  history  of  Genoa  as  far  as  the  XII  century  under  the 
name  of  Cabutius  or  Cabutus  ;  and  contemporary  with  John 
Cabot  there  were  several  persons  named  Cabvito,  amongst 
others  one  Sebastian.  Again  we  meet  a  Sebastian  Cabutus 
in  the  XVI  century,  f  This  repetition  of  the  name  Sebastian  in 
the  same  family  would  not  be  without  weight  in  our  case,  as 
one  of  the  three  sons  of  John  Cabot  was  also  called  by  that 
name,  considering  the  custom  then  and  now,  and  much 
more  then  than  now,  of  renewing  in  families  from  generation 
to  generation  the  names  of  those  who  have  gone  before.  And 
not  only  at  Savona  but  also  in  many  other  parts  of  Liguria, 
^re  found  surnames  more  or  less  resembling  Caboto,  and  even 
at  Port  Maurice  the  same  surname  is  sometimes  met  with.J 


*"It  will  naturally  be  asked  if  any  trace  can  be  found  in  our  documents  of 
such  events,  persons,  and  families.  Unhappily  we  have  found  nothing,  or  the 
same  as  nothing.  Still  here  are  at  least  some  hints  of  family  names."  From 
the  Qiornale  Ligustico.  Anno  1.  Sugli  Scopritori  Genovesi,  p.  314.  Id.  Intorno  a 
Giovanni  Caboto,  Genovese,  Document!,  etc.  Genova  Istituto  dei  Surdi-Muti, 
1881. 

•f-  Id.  Sugli  Scopritori  Genovesi,  p.  314—316. 

%  "We  have  documents  proving  that  the  family  of  Caboto  (written  precisely 
as  John  used  to  sign  it)  exists  in  Port  Maurice  from  the  year  1252  and  down 


Genoa's  claims.  •  5 

But  similar,  and  even  identical,  surnames  are  found  in 
every  part  of  Italy,  even  in  places  the  farthest  apart,  without 
any  presumption  of  relationship.  Harrisse  has  found  in 
notarial  acts  115  Columbuses  all  living  in  the  XIV  and  XV 
century  at  Genoa  and  in  its  environs  ;  and  amongst  them 
were  several  with  a  father  Domenico  and  a  grandfather  Gio- 
vanni, precisely  like  Christopher  Columbus  :  and  yet,  in  spite 
of  the  concordance  of  date  and  the  identity  of  baptismal  name, 
not  one  had  any  degree  of  consanguinity  with  Christopher 
Columbus.*  And  this  is  easily  explained  when  we  remember 
the  arbitrary  and  loose  way  in  which  surnames  were  formed  in 
the  middle  ages,  f  And  even  if  this  argument  based  on  the 
similarity  of  surname  were  valid,  it  would  not  help  us  much, 
for  surnames  resembling  Caboto,  are  not  wanting  even  in 
the  dogeate  of  Venice;}:  and  a  single  one  would  invalidate  the 
argument  in  favor  of  other  places. 

So  that  it  is  clear  that  this  argument,  unaccompanied  by 
others  to  support  it,  can  be  no  guide  in  the  obscurity  through 
which  we  are  passing. 

Some  seem  to  have  found  a  strong  basis  for  Genoa's  claims 
in  a  dispatch  from  Raimondo  da  Soncino,  the  Duke  of  Mil- 
an's ambassador  to  England,  who  when  writing  to  his  mas- 
ter of  the  return  of  John  from  his  voyage  of  discovery, 
among  many  other  things  reports  that  the  discoverer  "has 
given  an  island  to  a  certain  barber  of  his  from  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Genoa."  §  By  barbers,  at  that  time,  not  only  the  vul- 
gar, but  even  the  law  meant  the  lower  class  of  surgeons.  ||  But 
that  possessive  pronoun  his  sounded  to  their  ears  as  though 
it  had  been    his  fellow-countryman,  and  therefore  they  made 


through  an  uninterrupted  series  of  Generations  as  far  as  the  end  of  the  XV 
century."  G.  Doneaud,  I  Caboto  di  Porto  Maurizo  in  the  Provincia,  a  weekly 
journal  of  Port  Maurice,  19  Nov.  1881.  In  the  number  for  Nov.  26,  the 
author  cites  in  support  notarial  instruments  of  1252,  1276,  and  1434. 

*Jean  et  Sebastien  Cabot,  par  Henry  Harrisse,  Paris,  Leroux,  1882,  p.  12. 

t  See  my  article  Sui  Sopranomi,  in  the  Rassegna  Nazionale,  Anno  ix.  Fi- 
renze,  Cellini,  1888. 

%  See  Bullo,  1.  c.  p.  xxx. 

§  See  App.  xiii. 

|  See  Desimoni,  Intorno  a  Giovanni  Caboto  etc.,  p.  37. 


6  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

John  born  in  the  Ligurian  Castiglione,  a  small  hamlet  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Chiavari.*  But  such  interpretation  of 
the  pronoun  his  seems  to  me  too  arbitrary  ;  nor  did  any 
one  ever,  on  hearing  a  man  speak  of  his  servant,  suppose 
him  to  mean  that  the  servant  was  born  in  the  same  place  as 
himself. 

Since,  then,  the  most  diligent  research  has  failed  to  con- 
firm or  refute  the  generic  assertions  of  the  two  Spanish  ambas- 
sadors and  the  English  chronicles  cited,  there  is  nothing  left 
but  to  examine  these  assertions  by  themselves  and  determine 
what  force  they  have  or  may  have.  To  do  this  it  will  not  only 
greatly  help  us,  but  it  is  even  necessary  to  hear  the  others  first 
who  say  John  Cabot  was  simply  a  Venetian,  giving  the  name 
of  his  adoptive  country,  without  regard  to  the  place  of  his 
birth. 

First  comes  John  himself,  in  his  petition  to  the  King  of 
England  March  5,  1496, — "  To  the  King  our  sovereign  lord. 
Please  it  your  highnes.  .  .  to  graunt  unto  John  Cabotto  citizen 
of  Venice. "f  The  King  follows  the  same  in  the  letters  patent 
granted  in  conformity  with  the  petition  :  "  Be  it  known  and 
manifest  that  we  have  given  and  granted  to  our  beloved  John 
Cabotto  Citizen  of  Venice  and  his  sons,  etc.  "J  Next  comes  Lo- 
renzo Pasquahgo,  a  Venetian  merchant  settled  in  Bristol  who 
was  present  when  John  Cabot  returned  from  his  discovery,  and 
witnessed  the  great  demonstration  made  in  his  honor  by  the 
English.  Writing  of  which  immediately  afterwards  to  Venice 
he  not  only  calls  him  repeatedly  a  Venetian,  but  takes  note 
with  the  lively  pride  of  a  fellow-citizen  of  the  honor  paid  to  the 
flag  of  Venice.  "This  Venetian  of  ours  is  come. . .  and  is  with  his 
Venetian  wife  .  .  .  and  planted  on  the  lands  he  discovered  a 
greatHhwith  an  English  standard  and  one  of  St.  Mark,he  being 
a  Venetian,  so  that  our  ensign  has  been  carried  far."§  Don  Rai- 


*M.  d'  Avezac,  Les  Navigations  terre-neuviennes  deJean  et  Sebastien  Cabot,  in 
the  Bulletin  de  la  societe  de  geographie,  Tome  xviii,  Paris,  1869. 

f  See  Appendix  xv. 

f'Notum  sit  et  manifestum  quod  dedimusetcoUcessimus...dilectis  nobis  Jo« 
hauni  Cabotto,  civi  Venetiarun  etc.  filiis dicti..  .Johannis."  See  Appendix  v, 

§  See  App.  x. 


CONTEMPORARY  DOCUMENTS.  * 

mondo  da  Soncino  ambassador  of  theDuke  of  Milan  toEngland, 
also  wrote  at  once  to  the  duke,  and  in  his  dispatch  gives  the 
discovery  as  made  by  a  Venetian  : — "Item  the  King's  Majesty 
had  sent  a  Venetian  some  months  ago."*  And  writing  again  on 
the  18th  of  December  of  the  same  year,  he  continues  to  speak 
of  him  in  the  same  manner  :  "There  is  a  popular  Venetian  in 
this  Kingdom  named  messer  Zoanne  Caboto."f 

The  King  of  England  grants  fresh  letters  patent  February 
3,  1498,  in  which,  and  in  the  address  which  precedes  them, 
John  is  always  called  a  Venetian  citizen  :  "Please  it  your  High- 
nesse  ...  to  graunte  John  Kabotto  Veneciane  .  .  .  We 
graunte  to  our  well  beloved  John  Kabotto  Venician.  .  ."+ 

The  documents  mentioned  are  all  from  contemporaries  who 
knew  John  Cabot  personally  and  spoke  wTith  him,  and  wrere 
all  written  in  his  life-time.  To  these  I  may  add  the  wTords  of 
Sebastian  Cabot,  which,  though  written  many  years  after  the 
death  of  John,  still,  as  those  of  his  son,  may  be  considered  as 
contemporary.  Sebastian,  in  his  chart  of  1544,  near  the  newly 
discovered  land  placed  this  inscription  :  "This  land  was  dis- 
covered by  John  Cabot  Venetian.  "§ 

In  the  documents,  then,  which  have  reached  us  and  in  the 
public  and  private  charts,  all  the  contemporaries  and  acquaint- 
ances of  John  Cabot  call  him  a  Venetian.  The  only  excep- 
tions to  this  rule  beginning  with  an  unknown  merchant  and 
continued  by  ambassadors  and  ministers  and  the  king  himself, 
are  the  two  Spanish  ambassadors.  Was  it  accidental,  or  was 
there  a  reason  for  it  ?  If  accidental,  it  is  not  worth  discussing  : 
if  there  was  a  reason,  it  should  arise  from  the  conditions  of  the 
times,  the  facts,  or  the  persons.  Let  us  then  briefly  recall 
these  conditions,  and  let  the  necessity  be  an  excuse  for  antic- 
ipating mention  of  events  which  must  be  told  over  again 
later  at  greater  length. 

After  repeated  attempts  John  Cabot    had  discovered  a  new 

*  See  App.xii. 

+  See  App.  xiii,  %  See  App.  xiv. 

§  "Esta  tierra  fue  descubierta  por  Juan  Gaboto,  Veneciano,  y  Sebastian 
Caboto  su  hijo,  anno  del  nascimiento  de  nuestro  Salvador  Jesu  Cbristo  de 
mccccxciiii." 


8  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

land,  and  applied  to  the  King  of  England,  in  reliance  on  this 
discovery,  for  license  and  privileges  for  further  voyages  and 
discoveries.  Henry  VII  consented  and  on  the  5th  of  March  1496 
granted  the  letters  patent  asked  for.  Spain  at  this  time  was 
all  eyes  to  guard  against  a  surprise  being  attempted  from  any 
side  against  the  privileges  the  bull  of  Alexander  VI  gave  her 
over  all  discoveries  made  or  to  be  made  beyond  the  line  of 
partition  fixed  by  that  pope  himself.*  It  was  therefore  natural 
that  Puebla,  her  ambassador  to  the  court  of  England,  as  soon 
as  informed  of  the  negotiations  of  John  Cabot  with  Henry 
VII,  should  at  once  report  them  to  his  government.  This  re- 
port he  sent  on  the  21st  of  January  1496,  that  is  to  say,  forty 
days  before  the  letters  patent  received  the  royal  signature.  So 
great  had  been  his  watchfulness  to  learn  and  make  known  the 
result.  Puebla's  dispatch  is  unfortunately  lost,  but  its  loss  so 
far  as  concerns  the  present  question  is  supplied  by  the  answer 
of  the  Spanish  sovereigns,  which  undoubtedly  according  to 
the  custom  of  all  state  offices  repeated  in  reply  the  very  words 
used  in  the  dispatch.  Now  the  Spanish  chancery  made  this 
answer  :  "As  to  what  you  say  that  one  like  Columbus  has  gone 
there  to  put  England  on  an  undertaking  like  that  of  the  In- 
dies. .  .'f  This  shows  clearly  that  Puebla,  when  writing  his 
dispatch,  wholly  intent  on  the  danger  threatening  Spain,  had 
so  little  in  view  the  person  of  the  discoverer  that  in  order  to 
indicate  him  he  uses  the  most  general  and  vague  expressions 
and  only  says  one;  "One  has  gone  there  like  Columbus,"  etc. 
And  in  fact  what  difference  did  it  make  in  the  danger  to 
Spain  whether  he  was  an  Englishman,  or  a  foreigner  in  the 
service  of  England  ?  What  was  important  for  the  ambassador 
to  make  known,  and  for  Spain  to  learn,  was  that  an  expedition 
like  that  of  Columbus  was  preparing  for  the  discovery  of  new 
regions  for  the  benefit  of  England.  The  name  of  the  leader 
of  the  expedition  was  so  little  important  to  be  known,  that  it 
could  very  well  be  omitted  entirely  without  at  all  diminish- 

*Fernando  Colombo.  Historie,  c.  xlii.— Hen-era,  Hist.  Ind.  Dec.  1.  lib.  xx. 
c.  4. — Navarrete,  Coke,  Dipl.  xxiii. 

f"  Quanto  a  lo  que  desis  que  alia  es  yda  won  como  colon  para  poner  el  Rey 
de  Inglaterra  en  otro  negocio  como  el  de  las  yndisis.  .  ."    See  App.  vi. 


TUEBLA's  DISPATCHES.  9 

ing  the  danger  or  importance  of  the  matter.  And  to  have 
called  him  one  without  any  addition  of  country  or  nation,  is 
equivalent  to  omitting  him  altogether.  But  do  not  the  words 
like  Columbus,  hint  from  what  part  he  came  ?  Not  at  all  : 
they  simply  mean  that  the  discoverer  wished  to  do  for  Eng- 
land what  Columbus  had  done  for  Spain,  and  it  is  easy  to  un- 
derstand that  this  comparison  would  occur  at  once  to  the 
writer's  mind  when  the  purport  of  the  dispatch  was  precisely 
to  prevent  any  one  from  entering,  to  the  injury  of  Spain,  on 
the  way  opened  by  Christopher  Columbus. 

But  the  pressure  and  solicitation  of  Spain  had  no  effect,  and 
John  Cabot  continued  on  his  road  of  discovery.  During  the  ex- 
pedition of  1498,  Puebla  writes  again  to  his  sovereigns  :  and  in 
this  dispatch  the  expression  which  he  uses  to  designate  him, 
while  remaining  just  as  uncertain  as  to  the  person  of  the  dis- 
coverer, is  a  little  more  definite  as  to  the  place  from  which  the 
discoverer  came  :  and  where  he  at  first  had  simply  said  "One 
like  Columbus,"  he  now  says,  "  Another  Genoese  like  Colum- 
bus."* Did  this  addition  drop  casually  from  Puebla's  pen  without 
any  attention  on  his  part,  or  did  he  write  it  with  deliberate  pur- 
pose ?  Let  us  first  examine  the  second  supposition.  As  to  the 
fact  itself  of  the  discovery  and  of  the  danger  to  Spain,  we 
have  seen  that  it  was  not  affected  one  atom  either  way  by  the 
person  of  the  discoverer  ;  Puebla  could  then  have  had  no 
motive  for  the  addition  on  this  account.  Was  he  led  to  make 
it  by  any  reason  which  he  saw  in  the  person  of  the  sovereigns 
to  whom  he  was  writing  ?  What  did  it  matter  to  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  whether  that  discoverer  was  a  Genoese  or  a  Venetian  ? 
The  motive  then  must  be  looked  for  in  the  person  of  Puebla 
himself.  But  what  could  it  have  been  ?  To  defend  this 
honor  for  Genoa  ?  But  what  glory  for  Genoa  was  the  dis- 
covery made  by  John  Cabot  in  face  of  that  of  Chris- 
topher Columbus  ?  And  to  Puebla,  a  Spaniard,  what  mat- 
tered the  glory  of  Genoa  ?  It  was  not  zeal  of  patriotic 
affection.     Was  it  a  pedantic  itching  for  historical  accuracy  ? 

*  El  Rey  de  Inglatcrra  embio  cinco  nans  armadas  coii  otro  genoms  como  colon 
a  buscar  la  isla  de  Brazil."  See  App.  xv. 


10  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

It  is  ridiculous  to  think  so.  Puebla's  interest  in  determining 
accurately  the  person  of  the  discoverer  was  so  great  that  he 
never  mentions  his  name  or  surname,  but  calls  him  simply 
another  Genoese.  And  if  we  had  not  learnt  fiom  other  docu- 
ments that  the  author  of  the  discovery  reported  by  him  to  his 
sovereigns  was  John  Cabot,  with  all  his  dispatches  we  should 
still  be  ignorant  who  this  other  was  who  was  put  by  England 
on  the  same  career  as  Columbus.  And  even  admitting  that 
Puebla,  contrary  to  the  common  practice  of  calling  him  a 
Venetian,  had  wished  to  designate  his  true  country,  what 
could  history  gain  from  the  accuracy,  if  the  dispatch  was  in 
cypher  and  was  to  remain  buried  in  the  archives  and  hidden 
from  all  eyes  ?  Was  Puebla,  again,  a  man  to  trouble  him- 
self about  these  historical  minutiae,  ?  The  little  we  know  of 
him  shows  him  to  have  been  venal,  grasping,  and  niggard 
to  a  degree  hardly  credible  of  one  in  his  high  position.* 
Such  are  not  the  kind  of  persons  to  busy  themselves 
with  historical  sweepings. — But  he  was  in  close  relation 
with  the  Genoese  merchants  in  London,  and  might  have 
had  from  them  exact  information  about  Cabot. — His  relation 
with  the  Genoese  is  very  true,  but  the  only  document  that 
records  it  shows  that  its  purpose  was  to  fill  his  coffers 
with  gold,  not  historical  research. f  And  in  regard  to  these 
Genoese  merchants,  we  saw  a  short  while  ago  a  Venetian  mer- 
chant writing  at  once  to  Venice  to  give  notice  of  the  dis- 
covery and  relating  it  with  great  satisfaction  as  conferring 
glory  on  his  country.  Is  there  any  record  of  any  Genoese 
writing  about  it  to  Genoa  ?    And  yet  amongst  those  merchants 


*  See  in  Bergenroth's  Calendar  of  Spanish  state  papers  (vol.  i,  No.  206,  207, 
p.  166),  the  petition  of  the  Spanish  merchants  against  him,  and  Dr.  Breton's  let- 
ter—From H.  Harrisse,  1.  c.  p.  19.— Puebla  was  accustomed  to  visit  the 
English  court  very  often.  One  day  King  Henry  asked  his  court  if  they  knew 
why  Dr.  Puebla  came,  and  they  replied,  "to  eat."  lb.  Rep.  from  London,  no. 
204,  207. 

fThe  Genoese  merchants  had  incurred  a  certain  penalty,  and  employed  Puebla 
to  procure  their  discharge.  He  obtained  their  pardon,  but  demanded  500 
crowns  for  recompense  ;  whereupon  the  Spanish  merchants  were  greatly 
shocked  and  denounced  him  to  the  commissioners  sent  in  1498  to  inquire  into  his 
conduct. 


11 

there  were  some  of  great  merit,  so  much  so  that  the  King  of 
England  employed  them  on  diplomatic  missions  to  the  Pope 
and  to  the  King  of  France.*  So  that  they  were  persons  well 
fitted  to  understand  the  importance  of  the  discovery  made 
by  John  Cabot,  and  the  glory  that  resulted  from  it  for 
Genoa,  if  that  was  his  country. — It  may  be  answered  that 
not  finding  any  document  recording  it  is  no  proof  that  it 
never  occurred.  That  is  very  true;  but  we  can  find  the  dispatches 
of  Don  Raimondo  da  Soncino,  ambassador  of  the  Duke  of 
Milan  to  England.  And  as  Genoa  was  at  this  time  under  that 
duke,  Soncino  was  naturally  in  closer  relation  with  those  mer- 
chants than  any  other  diplomatist :  and  if  any  ambassador 
was  likely  to  be  interested  in  announcing  that  Cabot  was 
a  Genoese,  it  would  be  Soncino  who  in  writing  to  his  duke  was 
relating  the  glory  of  one  who  would  have  been  his  subject. 
But  we  have  seen  that  Don  Raimondo  in  both  his  dispatches 
calls  him  a  Venetian  :  and  it  is  noteworthy  that  in  the  second 
he  not  only  reports  having  conversed  personally  with  Cabot, 
but  also  gives  a  long  summary  of  the  discourses  he  had  heard 
from  him  concerning  his  plans  for  further  voyages  and  dis- 
coveries. There  was  no  want  of  opportunity  for  him  to  hear 
from  the  very  mouth  of  John  the  real  fact  about  his  country, 
and  he  had  a  most  natural  occasion  to  mention  the  matter 
where  he  relates  that  Cabot  had  promised  an  island  "to  a  cer- 
tain barber  of  his  from  the  neighborhood  of  Genoa."  Would  not 
this  name  have  recalled  at  once  to  his  mind  that  Cabot  too  was 
a  Genoese  ?  But,  instead,  he  always  speaks  of  him  as  a  Venetian, 
a  popular  Venetian,  f 

When  a  man  has  come  to  England  as  a  Venetian  citizen, 
has  for  18  years  enjoyed  in  the  Venetian  colony  the  benefits 
granted  to  Venetians  by  treaties  and  conventions,  has  never 
presented  himself  in  public  or  in  private  but  in  the  legal 
garb  of  a  Venetian,  and  was  known  wherever  he  went  as  a 
Venetian,  why  should  a  man  like  Puebla,  contrary  to  the  cus- 
tom and  opinion  of  everybody  else,  call  such  man  a  Genoese  ? 

We  may  revolve  the  matter  over  and  over,  but  we  shall  not 
discover  why.  There  only  remains,  then,  the  other  supposition 

*  See  Rawdon  Brown,  Calendar,  n.  785,  789.        \  See  App.  xii,  xiii. 


12  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

that  it  was  merely  by  accident  that  Puebla  attributed  to 
John  Cabot  a  Genoese  nationality,  and  it  does  not  seem  to  me 
hard  to  discover  and  explain  how  this  happened.  It  was  in 
his  second  dispatch  of  1498  that  he  added  the  adjective  Genoese, 
whereas  in  the  first  of  1496  he  had  said  indefinitely  one.  Now 
it  should  be  said  that  Puebla  at  this  time  lay  under  most  se- 
rious charges.  The  most  select  portion  of  those  he  represented, 
the  merchants,  had  presented  a  report  against  him  to  the 
Spanish  government,  which  regarded  the  case  as  important 
enough  to  send  out  a  commission  of  inquiry  into  his  life  and 
conduct.  Meanwhile  another  ambassador  was  associated  with 
him,  on  pretext  of  aiding  him  in  the  dispatch  of  business  ;  but 
the  fact  was  clear  to  every  one,  as  following  close  on  the  charges 
that  until  things  were  explained,  no  confidence  was  placed 
in  him.*  Now  it  was  in  such  state  of  feeling  that  Puebla  in- 
formed his  government  of  John  Cabot's  new  departure. 
The  dry  brevity  of  the  dispatch  shows  that  the  writer's  mind 
was  not  on  the  matter, but  he  felt  obliged  by  his  charge  to  say  a 
word  of  it.  He  wrote,  then,  that  one  like  Columbus  was 
leaving  with  a  squadron  for  new  discoveries  ;  and  since  this 
one  was  not  an  Englishman,  but  came  like  Columbus  from 
Italy,  without  distinguishing  the  different  provinces,  but 
hurriedly  announcing  the  fact,  and  as  the  Italian  of  Spain 
was  a  Genoese,  he  called  the  Italian  of  England  also  a  Genoese. 

How  then  about  the  dispatch  of  the  other  ambassador,  Don 
Pedro  de  Ayala,  where  not  once  only,  but  three  times  John 
Cabot  is  called  Genoese  ?  This  was  not  a  dispatch  written  in 
haste  and  almost  in  spite,  as  Puebla's  evidently  was,  but  is  a 
long  letter  with  many  details  and  minute  information. 

Before  answering  this  question,  let  us  see  who  Ayala  was 
and  what  were  his  duties. 

Don  Pedro  de  Ayala  was  the  ambassador  associated  with 
Puebla  when  the  charges  preferred  against  the  latter  had  de- 
termined the  government  to  inquire  into  their  truth.  It  is 
superfluous  to  say  that  the  two  ambassadors  were  crabbed 
enough  to  each  other,  and  had  only  that  intercourse  together 

*See  Bergenrotk's  Calendar  of  State  Papers,  1.  c.  As  regards  the  associate 
ambassador  we  shall  speak  presently. 


ayala's  dispatch.  13 

which  their  official  relation  demanded  :  Ayala  despised  his 
colleague,  who  repaid  him  with  hatred.  When  John  Cabot 
left  on  his  new  voyage  Puebla  thought  it  his  duty  to  report  it 
to  his  sovereigns,  and  wrote  his  laconic  dispatch.  Whether 
Ayala  considered  his  colleague's  account  too  meagre,  or 
wanted  to  exhibit  his  superior  usefulness,  he  gathered  infor- 
mation concerning  the  voyage  and  its  leader,  and  taking  his 
colleague's  letter,  to  the  strictly  necessary  notice  which  this  con- 
tained he  added  all  the  less  important  information  he  had 
gathered,  which,  although  it  might  not  be  of  any  great  interest 
to  Spain  to  know  it,  bore  witness  to  the  zeal  with  which 
Ayala  served  his  sovereigns.  I  say,  taking  his  colleague's  letter, 
for  he  repeats  it  in  his  own  word  for  word,  and  the  only  dif- 
ference in  the  two  is  that  Puebla  wrote  drily  such  details  as 
were  absolutely  necessary,  and  Ayala  repeats  each  of  these  de- 
tails accompanying  them  with  such  information  of  secondary 
importance  as  he  had  been  able  to  gather.  A  brief  comparison 
will  show  that  this  was  really  the  case. 

Puebla  says  :  Ayala  repeats  : 

"The  King  of  England  sent  "The  King  of  England  has 
five  armed  ships  with  another  armed  a  fleet  for  the  purpose 
Genoese  like  Columbus  to  seek    of  examining  certain  islands 

for  the  island  of  Brazil  and    and  mainland the  dis- 

neighboring  places  :  they  were    coverer    is    another    Genoese 

provisioned  for  a  year."  like  Columbus the   fleet 

was  composed  of  five  vessels 
with  provisions    for  a    year." 
Puebla  goes  on  :  Ayala  : 

"They  say  they  will  return       "Considering  the  course  they 

in  September.  Considering  the    take I    find    that   the 

course  they  take,  I  find  that  the  place  they  have  found  or  are 
place  they  are  seeking  is  a  part  seeking  is  a  part  of  what  be- 
of  your  Highnesses'  posses-  longs  to  your  Highnesses  by 
sions."  the  convention  with  Portugal. 

Their   return   is  expected   in 
September." 
Puebla  continues  :  Ayala  repeats  : 

"The  King    has  spoken  to      "The  King  has  spoken  to 


14  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

me  of  this  several  times  ;  he  me  of  this  several  times  :  he 
hopes  to  derive  very  great  hopes  to  derive  very  great 
profit  from  it :  I  believe  it  is  profit  from  it :  I  believe  it  is 
less  than  400  leagues  from  here  less  than  400  leagues  from 
to  those  places. "*  here  to  those  places."  f 

Puebla's  letter  is  here  given  entire;  the  dots  here  and  there  in 
Ayala's  show  where  he  had  inserted  further  information, — pre- 
cious indeed  to  us  who  want  the  whole  history  of  Cabot,  but 
utterly  worthless  to  Spain  which  was  solely  impressed  by  the 
fact  of  the  discovery. 

Is  it  not  clearly  evident  that  Ayala  in  writing  his  dispatch 
had  before  his  eyes  that  of  Puebla,  and  repeated  not  only  the 
thoughts,  but  the  very  words  ?  Then,  so  far  as  the  present  ques- 
tion is  concerned,  Ayala's  dispatch  is  only  a  duplicate,  and  as 
such  has  and  can  have  no  weight  as  authority.  Puebla,  in  speak- 
ing of  the  English  discoverer,  had  used  the  expression  "another 
Genoese  like  Columbus"  and  Ayala  repeats  the  expression 
without  a  syllable's  change.  Nor  can  it  be  supposed  that  he  had 
had  time  or  opportunity  to  inquire  as  to  the  true  country  of 
John  Cabot,  for  he  had  only  recently  arrived  in  England,  his 
permanent  office  being  that  of  Ambassador  to  King  James  IV 
of  Scotland  ;  and  since  he  had  been  in  England,  we  know  from 
Soncino,  his  most  frequent  and  intimate  conversation  was  with 
him.J  So  that  his  most  natural  and  convenient  source  of  infor- 
mation would  have  been  Soncino,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  always 
calls  Cabot  a  Venetian.  And  whatever  furthur  details  con- 


*  "  El  Key  de  Inglaterra  embio  cinco  naos  armados  con  otro  Genoves  como 
Colon  a  buscar  la  isla  de  Brazil  y  las  vicinidades  ;  f ueron  proveydos  por  un  aiio. 
Dicen  que  seraxi  venidos  para  al  el  Septiembre,  vista  la  derrota  que  llevan 
hallo  que  lo  que  buscau  es  lo  que  voestras  Altezas  poseen,  el  Re  me  ha  fa- 
blado  algunas  vezes  sobrello  espera  haver  muy  gran  interesse.  Creo  que  no 
hay  de  aqui  alia  CCCC  leguas."  See  App.  xv. 

t  " el  Rey  de  Inglaterra  ha  fecho  armada  para  descubrir  ciertas  islas 

y  tierra  firme el  inventador  es  otro  genoves  como  Colon Del 

armada  que  hizo  que  fueron  cinco  naos  f ueron  avitallados  por  un  ano  .... 
vista  la  derrota  que  llevan  hallo  que  es  lo  que  hart  hallado  o  buscan  lo  que 
vuestras  Altezas  poseen  .  .  .  sperase  seran  venidos  para  el  Septiembre.  ...  El 
Rey  de  Ynglaterra  me  ha  fablado  algunas  vezes  sobre  ello.  .  Espera  aver  muy 
gran  interesse.  Creo  que  no  ay  quatro  cientos  leguas."    See  App.  xvi. 

X  See  Rawdon  Brown,  Calendar  vol.  i,  n.  780,  783. 


TITE  ENGLISH  CHRONICLES.  15 

cerning  Cabot  are  furnished  by  Ayala  all  concern  him  as  dis- 
coverer, that  is,  he  speaks  of  his  activity,  his  genius,  his  in- 
fluence with  the  seamen  of  Bristol ;  but  has  not  a  syllable  in 
regard  to  him  personally  as  an  individual.  Each  of  the  three 
times  when  he  has  occasion  to  mention  him,  he  never  uses  his 
name  or  surname,  but  always  indicates  him  by  the  general 
term  Genoese,  which  he  had  found  in  Puebla's  dispatch. 

The  authority  of  Puebla  is  therefore  of  no  force  in  the  pres- 
ent question;  that  of  Ayala,  of  none. 

Let  us  come  now  to  the  chroniclers. 

The  English  chroniclers  of  the  first  half  of  the  XVI  century 
never  mention  the  name  of  Cabot  :  as  neither,  for  that  matter, 
do  they  mention  the  name  of  Christopher  Columbus  or 
Americo  Vespucci.* 

To  them  the  New  World  and  the  voyages  to  it  and  the  dis- 
coveries there  do  not  seem  to  have  existed.  This  silence  ceases 
in  1559,  in  reference  to  Willoughby  and  Chancellor's  voy- 
age to  the  east  by  way  of  the  northern  seas.  The  tragic  end  of 
the  brave  Willoughby  was  probably  the  reason  of  their  record- 
ing it  rather  than  the  importance  of  the  expedition  itself. 
This  expedition,  as  we  shall  see,  was  principally  the  work  of 
Sebastian  Cabot,  the  son  of  John,  and  the  chroniclers  who  re- 


*  Not  to  be  continually  repeating  the  citation  I  give  notice  here,  once  for 
all,  that  in  the  few  remarks  on  these  chroniclers  I  follow  Harrisse's  exposition 
in  his  Jean  et  Sebastien  Cabot,  p.  15  et  s.,  and  often  translate  his  words  literally. 

This  work  of  Harrisse  and  Biddle's  Memoir  are  the  two  greatest  works 
written  on  the  history  of  the  Cabots.  But  neither  author  intended  to  give  a 
complete  work  on  the  two  voyagers.  Bat  the  different  questions  thev  under- 
took to  examine  they  investigated  with  much  depth  and  learning  Harrisse, 
for  instance,  treats  at  great  length  on  the  first  period  of  the  Mstory  of  the 
Cabots,  but  skims  over  the  last  period  of  Sebastian's  residence  in  England,  and 
hardly  mentions  his  thirty  years'  service  in  Spain. 

Harrisse's  work  is  divided  into  four  parts  :  the  first  examines,  as  I  said,  the 
history  of  the  Cabots  ;  the  second  treats  of  the  cartography  of  the  first  half  of 
the  XVI  century  ;  the  third  gives  a  chronology  of  the  voyages  to  the  north  of 
Cape  Breton  from  that  of  John  Cabot  to  John  Urdaire's  in  1550  ;  the  fourth 
collects  the  richest  appendix  of  documents  that  had  so  far  appeared  concern- 
ing the  Cabots.  A  bibliography  of  the  history  of  the  Cabots  is  added  at  the 
end. 

How  much  I  have  availed  myself  of  these  two  authors  is  shown  by  the 
frequent  references  to  their  names  and  works. 


16  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

late  it,  show  the  very  important  part  which  he  had  in  it.  Thus 
the  Epitome  of  Chronicles  in  the  third  edition  which  was  pub- 
lished in  that  year,  1559,  in  the  second  part  when  relating  the 
expedition  of  Willoughby,  says  :  "  In  this  meane  whyle  there 
were  three  noble  shippes  furnyshed  for  the  great  adventure 
of  the  unknown  viage  into  the  easte  by  the  north  seas.  The 
great  encourager  of  this  viage  was  Sebastian  Gaboto,  an  Eng- 
lisheman  borne  at  Bristow,  but  a  Genoways  sonne."  Ten  years 
later,  in  1569,  the  chronicle  of  Richard  Grafton  appeared,  and 
in  that  also  we  read  :  "About  this  time  there  were  three 
noble  ships  set  forth  and  furnished  for  the  great  adventure  of 
the  unknown  voyage  into  the  east  by  the  North  seas.  The  great 
doer  and  encourager  of  which  voyage  was  Sebastian  Gaboto  an 
Englisheman  borne  at  Bristow,but  was  the  sonne  of  a  Genoway." 
Thirdly  come  the  chronicles  of  Raphael  Holinshed,  repeating 
word  for  word  that  "  About  this  time  there  were  three  notable 
ships  set  forth  and  furnished  for  the  great  adventure  of  the  un- 
known voyage  into  the  east  by  the  north  seas.  The  great  doer 
and  encourager  of  which  voyage  was  Sebastian  Gaboto,  an 
Englisheman,  born  at  Bristow,but  was  the  son  of  a  Genowaies." 

It  is  remarkable  how  freely  the  old  chroniclers  copied  one 
another  without  giving  the  source  of  their  narrative.  But  even 
if  it  were  a  very  rare  occurrence,  could  there  be  the  least  doubt 
that  these  three  accounts  have  the  same  origin? — that,  Grafton 
copied  from  the  third  edition  of  the  Epitome,  or  that  Holin- 
shed copied  either  from  that  edition,  or  from  Grafton's  chron- 
icle, which  is  the  same  thing  ?  Consequently  the  whole  import- 
ance and  authority  of  the  account  rests  on  the  third  edition  of 
the  Epitome  of  Chronicles.  Now,  let  us  see  what  that  is,  and 
what  credit  it  deserves. 

The  Epitome  of  Chronicles  is  only  the  chronicle  of  Thomas 
Lanquet  or  Lanquette,  continued  down  to  the  reign  of  Eliza- 
beth.* The  first  edition  of  this  chronicle  appeared  in  1549, 
and  naturally  makes  no  allusion  to  an  event  which  happened 
in  1553,  and  in  reference  to  which  the  name  of  Sebastian  Cabot 
is  introduced.       The  second  edition  came  out  in  1554  a  year 

*  Thomas  Lanquet  lived  from  1521  to  1545. 


THE  EPITOME  OF  CHRONICLES.  17 

after  that  event,  but  no  copy  of  this  can  be  found.*  The  third 
edition,  bearing  the  title  Epitome  of  Chronicles,  was  published 
at  London  in  1559,  by  Robert  Crowley.  It  is  divided  into 
three  parts  ;  the  first  gave  Lanquet's  chronicle,  the  second  re- 
produced the  part  added  by  Thomas  Cooper  in  1549,  and  the 
third  contained  the  new  addition  made  by  Crowley,  f  The 
words  referring  to  Sebastian  Cabot  are  found  in  the  second 
part,  written  by  Bishop  Cooper.  Immediately  after  the 
publication  of  the  Epitome,  Cooper  himself  gave  a  new 
edition,  which  was  the  fourth,  of  Lanquet's  chronicle,  with  the 
continuation  he  had  made  to  it,  and  again  printed  it, 
the  fifth  edition,  in  1565.  Now,  in  -both  the  fourth 
and  the  fifth  edition,  Cooper  relates  the  voyage  of  1553 
with  the  same  details  that  are  found  in  the  third  edition 
published  by  Crowley  ;  but,  in  giving  the  name  of  the 
principal  author  and  promoter  of  it,  he  says  simply  that  it 
was  "Sebastian  Cabot,"  without  one  syllable  as  to  his  or  his 
father's  nationality.  How  was  this  ?  Cooper  himself  gives 
us  the  explanation  of  it  ;  for  in  both  the  fourth  and  fifth  edi- 
tion he  protests  against  every  sort  of  alteration,  by  omission 
or  addition,  which  Crowley  had  made  in  his  work  for  the  edi- 
tion of  the  Epitome  of  Chronicles.  "Wherein,"  he  says,  "  as  I 
saw  some  thynges  of  myne  lefte  out  and  many  thynges  of 
others  annexed  .  .  .  greatly  blame  their  unhonest  dealynge, 
and  openly  protest  that  the  Edicion  of  this  chronicle  set 
foorth  by  Marshe  and  Ceres  in  the  yere  of  Christ  1569  is  none 
of  myne. . ."  Thomas  Marshe  was  the  publisher,  William  Seres 
the  printer  of  the  Epitome. 

Consequently  the  Genoese  nationality  which  the  English 


*  La  seconde  edition  est  de  1554.  Nous  n'  avons  pu  la  trouver  dans  les  bibli- 
tbeques,  Harrisse.  p.  23. 

t  An  Epitome  of  Chronicles,  conteyniuge  the  whole  discourse  of  the  histories 
.  .  .of  this  realme  of  England.  .  .  first  by  Thomas  Lanquet,  secondly.  .  .  by 
Thomas  Cooper,  .  .  .  thirdly.  .  .  by  Robert  Crowley.  Anno  1559.  Loudini,  in 
aedibus  Thomas  Marshe,  imprinted  at  London  by  William  Seres, — Robert 
Crowley,  born  in  the  first  15  years  of  theXVI  century,  deceased  in  1588,  wap 
at  once  publisher,  bookseller,  poet,  controversialist,  and  preacher  of  the  Re- 
form, of  which  he  was  one  of  the  most  zealous  apostles. — Thomas  Cooper  was 
first  a  physician  and  afterwards  a  bi>hop  ;  born  about  1517,  he  died  in  l&M. 

2 


18  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

chronicles  bestow  on  John  Cabot  is  the  personal  assertion  of 
Crowley,  an  assertion  not  only  unsupported  by  documents,  but 
which  he  accompanies  with  a  falsehood,  attributing  it  to 
Cooper  who  had  not  made  it,  but  twice  denies  it.  Now,  what 
confidence  can  be  put  in  a  man's  assertion,  who  so  disingenu- 
ously lays  his  hand  on  another's  work,  alters  it  at  pleasure,  and 
deceives  us  in  giving  us  as  the  testimony  of  a  third  person 
what  is  nothing  but  his  own  caprice  ? 

But  why  should  Crowley  have  made  the  false  assertion  ? 
The  cause  is  clear.  Sebastian  Cabot  was  an  English  subject  by 
adoption,  but  it  was  not  so  clear  as  the  English  would  have 
wished  that  he  was  born  in  England  and  not  brought  from 
Venice  in  his  infancy.  Now,  Crowley,  with  his  free  way  of  mak- 
ing history  say  whatever  he  thought  it  ought  to  say,  when  he 
came  to  the  place  where  Cooper's  chronicle  mentioned  Sebas- 
tian Cabot,  boldly  added  that  he  was  of  Italian  descent,  but 
born  in  England:  but  in  designating  the  province  from  which 
his  father  came,  as  Genoa  was  at  that  time  in  everybody's 
thoughts  in  relation  to  discoveries  on  account  of  Christopher 
Columbus,  carelessly,  like  Puebla  before  him,  wrote  Genoa  in- 
stead of  Venice  for  Italian  in  general.  The  error,  in  Biddle's 
opinion,  wTas  a  very  natural  mistake  of  a  contemporary  in 
view  of  the  fame  of  the  Genoese  Columbus.*  If  any  one,  reject- 
ing all  suppositions  however  reasonable,  claims  Crowley  as 
authority  in  history,  let  him  tell  me  where  Crowley  learnt  that 
Sebastian  Cabot  was  of  Genoese  descent.  Certainly  not  from 
the  Spanish  dispatches  ;  for  these  were  shut  up  in  the  ar- 
chives of  Spain  ;  nor  from  English,  Spanish,  or  Italian  writers, 
for  not  one  had  said  so  before  himself.  The  conclusion  seems 
to  me  so  natural  that  I  shall  spend  no  more  words  on  the 
matter. 

Now  comes  Stow,  and  here  the  question  is  more  diffi- 
cult to  solve.  Richard  Hakluyt,  in  his  Divers  Voyages 
touching    the  Discovers   of  America,  published   in    1582,   in- 

*  "The  very  phrase'a  Genoa's  son,'  employed  to  designate  Sebastian  Cabot, 
may  be  considered  as  the  not  unnatural  mistake  of  a  contemporary,  referring 
as  it  does  to  the  country  of  Columbus,  with  whose  fame  all  Enrope  was  ring- 
ing from  side  to  side."  Memoir,  p.  44 — 45. 


THE  ENGLISH  CHRONICLERS.  19 

serted  a  memoir  which  he  preceded  with  a  notice  that  it  was 
"taken  out  of  an  old  chronicle  written  by  Robert  Fabyan, 
some  time  Alderman  of  London,  which  is  in  the  custody  of 
John  Stowe,  citizen,  a  diligent  searcher  and  preserver  of  an- 
tiquities."* 

The  Memoir  begins  thus  :  This  yeare  (1498)  the  King  (by 
meanes  of  a  Venitian  ....  caused  to  man  and  victuall  a 
shippe."f 

The  same  author  subsequently  published  his  great  col- 
lection of  all  the  navigations  and  voyages  of  discovery  made 
by  the  English  in  general  :  and  in  the  second  edition,  pub- 
lished from  1598  to  1600,  inserting  the  same  passage  taken 
from  Stow  where  at  first  he  simply  had  "by  meanes  of  a  Ven- 
etian," now  says,  "by  meanes  of  one  John  Caboto,  Venetian  ;" 
that  is,  instead  of  the  vague  indication  of  nationality,  it  de- 
termines the  name  and  surname  of  that  Venetian.  Had  Hak- 
luyt  inadvertently  omitted  that  name  in  the  first  collection, 
or  did  he  bodly  insert  it  of  his  own  head  in  the  second  ?  Let 
us  delay  answering  this  question  for  a  moment. 

Stow's  collection  was  also  published  after  his  death,  and 
there  we  find  the  same  narrative  precisely  as  it  is  given  by 
Hakluyt ;  but  in  the  single  point  where  the  two  editions  differ 
as  we  have  pointed  out,  Stow's  collection  is  at  variance  with 
both.  It  says  :  "This  yeare  one  Sebastian  Gavoto  a  Genoas 
sonne  borne  in  Bristow  .  .  caused  the  king  to  man  .  .  "\  It 
is  clear  that  the  original  account  of  the  old  chronicle  has  been 
falsified.  By  whom  ?  Before  answering,  let  me  briefly  recall 
to  the  reader's  memory  who  Hakluyt  and  Stow  were,  for  a 
knowledge  of  their  persons  and  characters  may  aid  us  to  take 
a  few  steps  in  the  obscurity  of  this  question. 


*  It  is  useless  to  go  into  the  question  whether  the  chronicle  from  which  Stow 
obtained  this  extract  really  belonged  to  Robert  Fabyan  or  not.  For  information 
on  that  point  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  defence  made  by  H.  Harrisse  (1.  c.) 
against  Biddle  (Memoir,  1.  c).  What  is  important  is  to  know  that  it  was  very 
old,  and  the  source  of  the  narrative  is  contemporary  with  the  navigation  of 
which  it  treats.     As  to  this  all  agree. 

+  See  App.  viii. 

X  See  App.  ix. 


20  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

Richard  Hakluyt,  born  about  1553,  and  deceased  in  1616, 
was  the  greatest  writer  and  collector  of  memoirs  relating  to 
the  voyages  and  navigations  of  discovery  made  by  the  Eng- 
lish in  the  northern  seas.  Learned  in  ancient  and  modern 
languages,  professor  of  naval  history,  in  active  correspond- 
ence with  Ortelius,  Mercator,  and  all  the  principal  mathema- 
ticians and  astronomers  that  could  aid  him  by  their 
learning,  he  was  the  highest  authority  in  England  on  mat- 
ters of  navigation,  and  not  only  individuals,  but  cities  and 
navigation  societies  applied  to  him  for  advice.  As  to  his 
collection,  it  is  still  amongst  the  best,  not  of  England  only, 
but  of  the  whole  world.  The  appreciation  of  the  English 
for  this  collection,  especially  of  navigators  and  discoverers, 
is  shown  by  the  facts  that  in  his  life-time  Bylot,  who  had 
Baffin  for  his  pilot,  gave  the  name  of  Hakluyt  to  an  island 
in  Baffin's  Bay;  Hudson  whose  name  is  borne  by  the  great  in- 
land sea  of  North  America,  called  a  cape  of  Spitzberg  after 
Hakluyt  whilst  he  was  still  living  ;  and  finally  during  his  life- 
time also,  a  river  discovered  by  English  navigators  in  1611 
near  Petschora  was  called  by  his  name.* 

John  Stow  was  born  of  poor  parents  about  1525,  and 
brought  up  to  the  tailor's  trade.  For  forty  years  his  life  was 
passed  among  needles  and  thread,  but  in  the  few  leisure  hours 
which  his  trade  allowed  him  he  had  always  been  a  fond 
reader  of  legends,  chronicles,  histories,  and  all  that  told  of 
the  times  that  were  past.  By  such  reading  he  grew  to  be  so 
attached  to  old  memoirs  that  when  about  40  years  of  age,  he 
threw  down  his  needle,  devoted  himself  to  collecting  them 
and  followed  his  new  profession  with  the  faith  and  enthu- 
siasm of  an  apostle.  Short  of  means,  he  made  long  journeys 
afoot  to  hunt  over  and  ransack  colleges  and  monasteries,  and, 
no  matter  how  worn  and  torn  might  be  the  rags  of  old  papers 
which  he  found,  he  kept  all,  reviewing,  connecting,  copying, 
comparing,  annotating  with  truly  wonderful  ability  and 
good  sense.      Arrived  at  fourscore  years,  and  no  longer  capa- 


*  Hakluyt  Island  in  Baffin's  Bay  is  at  77°  25'  N.  and  64°  20'  W.— Cape  Hak- 
luyt lies  in  79°  47'  N.  and  60°  51'  E. 


THE  ENGLISH  CHRONICLERS.  21 

ble  of  earning  a  livelihood,  he  applied  to  the  king,  and 
James  I,  consenting  to  his  petition,  granted  to  the  man  who 
had  saved  treasures  of  memoirs  for  English  history,  the  fa- 
vor of  wearing  a  beggar's  garb  and  asking  alms  at  church- 
doors  !  In  this  abject  state,  forgotten  and  despised,  he  died 
two  years  later  in  1605.* 

Which  of  the  two  would  be  likely  to  lay  his  rash  hands  on 
the  old  chronicle  attributed  to  Fabyan,  the  learned  Hakluyt, 
or  the  devoted  Stow  ? — Both  ;  and  each  in  good  conscience 
according  to  the  different  point  of  view  from  which  he  re- 
garded the  matter.  Let  us  begin  with  Stow.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  Sebastian  Cabot's  fame  always  stood  high  in 
England,  but  precisely  because  his  splendor  was  so  great,  it  al- 
most eclipsed  the  name  of  John,  his  father.  Even  now  we  see 
English  writers  remarking  the  fact,  that  many  do  not  even 
know  that  there  were  two  Cabots  and  the  glory  of  their  dis- 
coveries is  divided  between  them  and  not  given  all  to  Se- 
bastian, f  Would  it  be  a  hazardous  supposition  that  Stow,  like 
so  many  others,  confounded  the  two  persons  under  one  name  ? 
I  cannot  believe  so,  when  I  reflect  that  he  was  running  here 
and  there  in  search  of  old  papers  and  memoirs  among  moth- 
eaten  rubbish  and  on  dusty  shelves;  and  that  the  name  of  John 
Cabot,  after  all  the  search  that  can  be  made,  only  appears  in 
England  in  the  royal  patents  of  Henry  VII,  and  carefully 
preserved  and  guarded  in  the  state  records,  to  which  the 
learned  and  famous  Hakluyt  could  have  free  access,  but  the 
poor  and  despised  Stow  would  not  have  had  if  he  had  asked 
it,  which  he  certainly  did  not. 

Stow,  then,  had  before  him  an  old  account  of  a  discovery 
made  by  the  English  in  the  time  of  Henry  VII,  under  the 
lead  of  a  foreigner,  whose  name  and  surname  were  not  given. 


John  Strype,  Life  of  John  Stow,  London,  1720. 
f  "Familiar  as  is  the  name  of  Cabot  to  all  who  are  acquainted  with  the  his- 
tory of  maritime  discovery,  it  is  not,  perhaps,  so  generally  known  that  there  are 
two  of  the  name,  John  and  his  more  celebrated  son  Sebastian,  between  whom  the 
credit  of  the  discovery  loosely  attributed  to  'Cabot'  must  be  divided."  Edward 
Cheney,  Notices  concerning  John  Cabot  and  his  son  Sebastian,  Preface,  London, 
1856. 


22  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

That  they  were  not  given  is  not  a  supposition,  but  an 
assertion,  and  this  is  its  basis.  In  the  British  Museum, 
among  the  manuscripts  of  the  Cotton  collection,  there  is 
an  old  anonymous  chronicle  which  relates  the  same  fact  which 
Stow  has  given  us  under  the  name  of  Robert  Fabyan.*  Now 
the  two  chronicles  are  so  completely  alike,  not  only  in  the  sub- 
stance of  the  fact,  but  in  the  language  almost  word  for  word, 
as  to  prove  without  any  restriction  that  they  are  both  from 
the  same  source.  The  reader  may  satisfy  himself  of  this  with 
his  own  eyes  by  turning  to  them  in  the  Appendix  and  com- 
paring them  one  with  the  other,  f  But  the  Cotton  manuscript, 
in  the  place  where  Stow  has  put  Sebastian  Cabot,  says  simply 
"a  stranger  Venetian."  As  the  account  which  Stow  gives 
us  under  the  name  of  Fabyan  agrees  with  that  in  the  Cotto- 
nian  collection  in  every  thing  else,  it  should  also  on  this  point. 
If  any  extrinsic  proof  were  needed  to  confirm  the  justness  of 
this  reasoning,  we  have  such  proof  in  Hakluyt's  account  as 
he  gives  it  in  his  first  collection  where  he  puts  simply  "a  Vene- 
tian," as  does  the  anonymous  writer  in  the  Cottonian  col- 
lection. But  Hakluyt  got  his  account  from  Stow  ;  therefore 
the  memoir  furnished  by  the  tailor  had  in  the  original  the 
words  "a  stranger  Venetian."  How  then  did  Stow,  when  in- 
serting this  memoir  in  his  collection,  come  to  make  so  ma- 
terial an  alteration?  Harrisse  has  pointed  out  how  it  must  have 
occurred.  Stow,  in  his  collection,  immediately  after  the  frag- 
ment of  which  we  are  speaking  and  which  was  taken  from 
Robert  Fabyan's  chronicle,  inserts  another  fragment  from 
Humphrey    Gilbert's   discourse,  in    which    Sebastian    Cabot 


*  It  bears  the  title  :  "Chronicon  renim  Angliae  et  series  maiorum  et  vice- 
comitum  civitatis  London  ab  anno  primo  Henrici  tertii  ad  annum  primum  Hen- 
rici  8."  The  writing  belongs  to  the  first  years  of  Henry  VII.  See  Harrisse,  1.  c. 
p.  33. 

f  "Les  premieres lignes  rappellent  tropi'  extrait  de  Fabyan  tel  quelle donne 
Hakluyt  dans  son  edition  de  1582  pour  ne  pas  y  voir  le  prototype  du  recit 
attribue"  au  digne  Alderman  (It.  Fabyan)  Harrisse,  p.  33—34.  And  further  on  : 
"Les  mots  .  .  .  dans  1'  extrait  du  manuscrit  cottonien  et  dans  celui  de 
"Robert  Fabyan  tel  quel  le  rapportent  John  Stow  et  Richard  Hakluyt,  obligent 
la  critique  a  reconnaitre  que  ces  trois  extraits  se  ressemblent  trop  pour  ne  pas 
provenir  de  la  mSme  source." — See  and  compare  App.  vii — viii—  ix. 


THE  ENGLISH  CHRONICLERS. 


23 


is  spoken  of  and  mention  made  of  an  English  expedition 
led  by  him  to  the  north-west  in  the  time  of  Henry  VII:  that 
is  to  say,  to  the  same  place  and  at  the  same  time  as  the  voy- 
age related  by  Fabyan.*     Stow  supposed  the  two  writers  were 
speaking  of  the  same  expedition  :  and  as  Fabyan  says  that  the 
expedition  was  led  by  a    foreigner  from    Venice,   and    Sir 
Humphrey  gave  the  command  to  Sebastian  Cabot,  he  at  once 
concluded  that  Fabyan's  "stranger  Venetian"  was  the  person 
named  by  Humphrey  Gilbert ;  and  to  make  Fabyan's  account 
clearer,  in  place  of  stranger  he  gave  the  name  of  Sebastian  Ca- 
bot.      This  substitution  made,  it  was  a  natural  consequence 
that  the  word    Venetian  should  give  place  to  the  expression 
"a  Genoas  sonne  borne  in  Bristbw  ;"  for  Stow  treats  of  Se- 
bastian Cabot  on  another  occasion,  and  that  is  when  relating 
the  expedition  of  Sir    Hugh    Willoughby,   encouraged  and 
undertaken  at  his  instance.       In  relating  this  fact  he  follows 
the  account  of  Crowley  who,  as  we  have  seen,  says  Sebastian 
Cabot  was  "  borne  at  Bristowe,  but  a  Genoways  sonne.  "  These 
words,  by  a  natural  association  of  ideas,  would  occur  to  Stow's 
mind  when  inserting  the  name  of  Sebastian  Cabot  in  the  ex- 
pedition related  by  Fabyan,  and  as  he  had  inserted  them  on 
Crowley's  authority  in  the  expedition  of  1553,  he  again  sub- 
stitutes them  for  the  "stranger  Venetian"  in  the  expedition 
narrated  by  Fabyan.  f     Let  us  come  now  to  Hakluyt,  The 
memoir  which  he  had  from  Stow  was  undoubtedly  as  we  find 
it  in  Stow's  collection  ;  that  is,  the  voyage  of  which  it  speaks 
is  attributed  to  Sebastian  Cabot  "  a  Genoa's  sonne."  This  is 
evident  from  the  heading  prefixed  to  the  memoir  in  every 
edition  of  Hakluyt,  which  is  :  "A  note  of  Sebastian  Cabot's  first 
discoverie  taken  out  of  a  chronicle  by  Robert  Fabyan  until 
now  unpublished,  in  the  custodie   of  John   Stow,  a  diligent 
preserver     of     antiquities.  "J     These     words     are    in    open 

*  See  App.  ix.  2nd  Part. 

t  .  .  .  .  Stow  cherchaat  a  remedier  au  vague  de  P  expression  "a  Venetian" 
et  voyant  par  Humphrey  Gilbert  ( qu'il  cite  immediatmeut  apres, )  que  la 
decouverte  etait  attribute  a  Sebastien  Cabot,  peut  alors  avoir  pris  sur  lui  d' 
interpoler  le  passage  de  Fabyan,  et  ajoute  les  mots  ' 'fils  de  Geuois"  empruutes 
a  Crowley.  Harrisse,  p.  33. 

t  See  App.  viii. 


24  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

contradiction  with  the  narrative  given  by  Hakluyt  In  fact, 
in  his  first  collection  he  says  the  expedition  was  led  by  "a 
stranger  Venetian";  in  the  subsequent,  he  gives  the  command 
to  "John  Cabot  Venetian."  The  heading  then  is  not  Hakluyt's, 
but  Stow's.  If  Stow  put  Sebastian  Cabot's  name  in  the 
heading  why  would  he  not  insert  it  in  the  body  of  the 
narrative  ?  He  did  so  in  his  collection.  And  then  Hakluyt 
must  have  again  altered  the  memoir  received  from  Stow. 
But  why  ?  and  on  what  grounds  ?  For  it  is  absurd  to  suppose 
that  a  man  like  Hakluyt  would  make  history  follow  his  caprice. 
Hakluyt  had  gone  deeper  than  any  other  Englishman  into 
the  history  of  those  navigations  and  he  knew  from  other 
indisputable  documents  which  he  handled,  read,  studied, 
collated,  with  the  greatest  care  and  honesty,  that  the  author 
of  the  voyage  related  in  that  fragment  was  not  Sebastian  Ca- 
bot, and  therefore  there  was  certainly  an  error  in  the  name. 
What  could  he  do  ?  What  any  one  else  would  have  done  in 
the  same  case  ;  that  is,  ask  to  see  the  original  to  be  sure 
whether  it  was  correctly  copied.  And  when  he  saw  that  the 
original  had  "a  stranger  Venetian,"  he  replaced  in  his  col- 
lection the  true  reading  of  the  text.  The  reading  he  gives 
agrees  so  well  with  the  chronicle  in  the  Cottonian  collection 
that  it  seems  to  me  certain  that  he  has  given  the  true  reading 
of  the  text  which  Stow  possessed. 

Afterwards,  when  revising  his  work  for  a  second  collection,  he 
must  have  believed  he  would  help  the  reader's  understanding 
of  the  story  by  inserting  the  name  of  the  "stranger  Venetian," 
by  which  addition,  without  violating  the  truth  of  the  text, 
he  only  rendered  clearer  the  general  expression  of  the  chron- 
icler. And  he  did  so.  But  why  when  he  corrected  Stow's  error  in 
the  body  of  the  narrative,  did  he  leave  it  untouched  in  the 
heading?  Because  this  was  not  of  the  slightest  importance  in 
his  collection,  and  therefore  he  paid  no  attention  to  it,  but  left 
it  as  he  found  it.  If  others  prefer  to  suppose  that  Stow  only 
changed  the  heading,  but  left  the  text  unaltered,  it  turns  out 
still  better. 

The  testimony  of  Stow  thus  falls  to  the  ground,  deprived 
of  all  historical  support :  and  with  it  falls  every  argument 


VENETIAN  NATURALIZATION.  25 

for  the  opinion  that  would  make  John  Cabot  a  Genoese.  Then 
it  only  remains  for  history  to  go  back  and  call  him  a  Ve- 
netian, as  at  first,  by  virtue  of  the  citizenship  obtained  from 
Venice.        But  does  his  obtaining  this  citizenship  prevent  us 
from  believing  that  he  may    have  been  Venetian  also    by 
birth  ?      Harrisse  answers  that  it  is  absolutely  impossible  for 
us  to  do  so  :  and  in  support  of  his  answer  brings  a  decree 
made  by  the  Republic  of  Venice  in  1313.     "This  year,"  says 
one  historian,  "extending  the  privilege  of  the  ancient  Vene- 
tian Dogeate,  it  was  decreed  that  whoever,  born  within  the 
tract  from  Grado  to  Cavarzere,  had  lived  with  a  fixed  resi- 
dence in  those  lands,  should  be  a  citizen  of  the  one  and  the 
other  class."*  Now,  says  Harrisse,  if  John  Cabot  had  been  born 
in  any  part  of  the  Duchy,  by  force  of  this  decree,  from  the 
fact  of  his  birth,  he  would  have  been  a  Venetian  citizen.    If, 
then,  he  applied  for  naturalization,    it  means  that  he  came 
from  outside  of  the  Duchy,  f   The  reasoning  of  the  learned 
American  would  be    unanswerable  if  the  decree  he  brings 
forward  had  possessed  in  the  legislator's  mind,  and  in  fact,  the 
perpetual    force    of   law.    But   in   my    opinion  it  is  not  so. 
To  me  that  decree  was  a  purely  transitory  arrangement  by 
which    the    right     of    Venetian     citizenship     was    offered 
to    all    who   at    the    time    of   its    publication    were    already 
born    within     the    limits     of    the    republic     and    had    a 
permanent  residence  there.       It  has  nothing  to  do  with  later 
times.       The  laws  of  Venice  on  this  subject  of  citizenship  of 
foreigners  underwent  so  many  and  such  frequent  changes  in 
the  XIV  and  XV  centuries  that  it  can  excite  no  wonder  if  we 
give  a  general  law  like  this  only  temporary  force  and  effect. 
Let  the  reader  see  a  specimen  of  this  facility  of  change,  and 
then  judge  whether  it  is  as  I  claim,  or  not. — In  1305,  it  was 
decreed  that  all  children  of   lawful    wedlock    domiciled    in 
Venice  for  25  years  should  be  counted  as  Venetian  citizens. ;j: 

*Vettor  Sandi,  Storia  Civile  della  Repubblica  di  Venezia  t.iillib.  vi,  cap.  2, 
p.  345. 

f  Jean  et  Sebastian  Cabot.  1.  c. 

%  Vettor  Sandi.  Principii  di  Storia  civile  della  Repubblica  di  Venezia.  T.  i, 
lib.  iv,  cap.  v,  p.  813.  Cristoforo  Tettori,  Saggio  della  Storia  civile  della 
Repubblica  di  Venezia,  T.  i,  p.  102. 


26  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

In  1348,  after  the  great  plague  of  that  year,  all  foreigners  were 
declared  citizens  if  they  were  married  and  settled  in  the  circle 
of  the  city  with  their  family  for  two  years. *  In  1391,  their 
liberality  was  unlimited.  It  was  decreed  that  any  foreigner 
coming  to  dwell  with  his  family  in  Venice  had  only  to  be 
inscribed  in  the  registers  of  the  purveyor  of  the  Republic  in 
order  to  acquire  at  once  all  the  rights  of  a  citizen,  f  In  1407, 
following  another  plague,  the  title  of  citizen  was  granted  to 
any  foreigner  who  would  marry  a  Venetian  woman  and  come 
and  settle  in  Venice.  J 

After  1407  there  is  no  record  of  any  change,  but  it  is 
certain  that  there  was  a  change,  for  the  citizenship  granted 
to  John  Cabot  imposes  conditions  different  from  those  re- 
quired by  the  laws  just  mentioned.  And  if  I  am  right,  this 
change  was  made  and  fixed  by  the  very  decree  of  August, 
1472,  under  which  citizenship  was  conferred  on  Lodovico 
Fontana.  Let  the  reader  judge  from  the  beginning  of  that 
decree. 

"Nicolo  Trono,  — By  the  grace  of  God,  Doge  of  Venice  etc. 

"To  all  and  singular  the  friends  and  lieges  etc. 

"By  the  present  writing  we  wish  to  make  known  to  you 
that  amongst  the  thoughts  which  we  revolve  in  our  mind, 
one  of  the  principal  is  that  of  treating  with  great  care  the 
affairs  of  our  subjects  and  devoted  lieges,  and  securing  their 
advantage.  This  adds  to  the  splendor  of  our  authority  and  our 
lieges,  seeing  our  solicitude  for  them,  are  strengthened 
and  increased  in  their  loyalty  and  devotion  to  us.  Therefore 
wishing  to  reward  their  merits  by  favors,  we  have  determined 
to  establish  as  follows  : 

"That  any  one  who  has  resided  for  15  years  or  upwards 
uninterruptedly  in  Venice  and  during  this  period  borne  the 
burdens  and  imposts  of  our  government,  shall  be  henceforth 
our  Venetian  citizen  ;  and  for  ever  and  everywhere  enjoy  the 
privilege  of  Venetian  citizenship  and  all  other  benefits,  liber- 

*  Sandi,  ib.  T.  ii,  p.  814. 

f  Marco  Ferro,  Dizionario  del  Diritto  comune  e  Veneto,  Tomo  iii,  p.  189. 
X  Sandi,  ib.  T.  Ill,   lib.  vi,  cap.  2,  p.  345.—  Tettori.   Ib.  T.  1,  p.   108,— 
Cecchetti,  B  Doge  di  Venezia,  Venezia,  1864,  in  8vo.  p.  246. 


HIS    ATTACHMENT    TO    VENICE.  27 

ties,  and  immunities  possessed  and  enjoyed  by  other  Venetians 
and  our  citizens.  And  as  Luigi  Fontana,  formerly  from  Ber- 
gamo, is  shown  to  have  resided  15  years we  receive  him 

as  a  Venetian  and  our  citizen."* 

The  first  part  of  this  decree  has  nothing  to  do  with  any 
particular  person,  but  it  is  wholly  impersonal.  A  general 
law  is  established  applying  to  all  who  come  under  its  con- 
ditions. We  have  then  a  real  change  of  the  former  laws  :  the 
Venetian  method  of  conferring  citizenship  starts  here  on  a  new 
path.  In  fact,  the  naturalization  of  Fontana  is  based  on  the  fact 
that  he  comes  under  the  conditions  established  in  the  first 
part  of  the  decree. — For  all  the  others  that  come  after  him 
the  chancellor  says  :  Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  in  favor  of 
such  and  such  a  one,  that  is,  it  is  shown  that  such  a  one  had 
the  requisites  set  forth  in  the  first  part  of  the  decree,  and  there- 
fore was  admitted  to  Venetian  citizenship. — It  is  consequently 
by  the  rule  of  this  decree  alone  that  the  question  of  John  Cabot 
must  be  decided  ;  previous  laws  have  nothing  to  do  with  his 
case. 

But  as  regards  the  mere  registering  of  this  decree  when  the 
chancellor  signed  each  case  of  naturalization,  there  is  a 
variation  in  the  registers,  which  I  do  not  think  wTas  accidental, 
but  if  I  am  right,  may  have  an  important  bearing  on  the 
present  question.  The  chancellor  of  the  Duchy  registered  the 
whole  of  the  decree  of  August  11,  1472,  in  favor  of  Lodovico 
Fontana  from  Bergamo,  in  the  lengthy  formula  used  in  Chan- 
cery, with  all  the  details  of  the  requisites,  burdens,  rights,  etc., 
which  had  to  precede  or  followed  naturalization.  After  Fon- 
tana, the  chancellor  gives  the  names  of  16  others  on  whom 
citizenship  was  conferred  under  the  same  conditions,  but  in 
these  cases,  instead  of  repeating  the  decree  each  time,  he  says 
simply.  "Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  provido  viro  etc./'such 
a  year.  Now  of  these  sixteen,  he  sometimes  mentions  the  foreign 
country  from  which  they  came,  as  was  done  in  Fontana's  case  ; 
and  sometimes  not.  Why  this  difference?  It  cannot  be  said  that 
the  chancellor  began  in  one  manner,  and  then  for  brevity's  sake 

♦See  App.  ii. 


28  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

followed  the  other  ;  for  the  two  manners  intersect  one  an- 
other ;  after  five  with  the  name  of  the  country  comes  one  with- 
out it:  then  two  with,  and  then  others  again  without:  the  last 
is  given  again  with  the  name  of  the  country.  I  regard  this  as 
indicating  that  those  without  any  name  of  country  were  sons 
of  foreigners,  but  born  in  Venice. 

Finally  I  add — and  if  the  argument  by  itself  and  unsupported 
is  a  weak  one,  it  must,  I  think,  have  great  weight  preceded 
as  we  have  seen  by  so  many  inductive  reasons — I  add  that  the 
little  which  we  know  of  John  Cabot  shows  him  so  bound  in 
affection  to  Venice,  that  I  cannot  imagine  him  otherwise 
than  as  born,  growing,  and  brought  up  amidst  the  memories 
of  the  glories  of  the  Queen  of  the  Adriatic.  For  so,  even  from  his 
earliest  years  as  a  suckling  in  his  mother's  arms  he  hearsVenice 
talked  of;  the  first  conceptions  of  power,  greatness,  glory  that 
are  presented  to  his  fancy,  are  of  Venice:  the  first  impressions 
deep  stamped  on  his  tender  heart,  come  from  Venice.  As  his  in- 
fant mind  gradually  opens  at  school  to  the  first  rays  of  reason, 
and  as  his  maturer  fancy  spreads  over  newer  and  vaster  hori- 
zons it  is  always  in  the  greatness  and  glory  of  Venice  that  his 
spirit  moves  and  is  nourished  as  he  learns  how  far  she  sends 
her  fleets,  whence  she  draws  her  wealth,  and  how  great  is  \ 
the  number  of  her  ships,  her  forts,  and  her  soldiers.  And 
the  stories  that  could  not  fail  to  be  told  of  so  many 
Venetian  travellers,  continually  passing  over  unknown 
lands  and  seas,  opening  new  regions  to  men's  knowledge, 
must  have  kindled  his  fancy,  not  with  the  delight  of 
mere  curiosity  and  wonder,  but  with  the  enthusiasm  of 
patriotic  sentiment.  In  Venice  he  passes  these  happy 
years  when  life  seems  all  to  smile  ;  at  Venice  the  seal 
of  love  is  stamped  on  his  heart,  and  he  forms  a  family,  and 
feels  for  the  first  time  the  rapture  of  being  called  father.  His 
first  labors  are  for  Venice  and  writh  Venetians,  the  ships  he 
goes  aboard  of,  the  wares  he  buys  and  sells,  the  ports  he  sails  to, 
the  merchants  he  talks  with,  everything  speaks  to  him  of 
Venice.  So  I  can  conceive  how  such  a  man  led  by  the  circum- 
stances of  life  to  betake  himself  elsewhere,  carries  ever  with 
him  the  image  of  his  dear  city,  always  present  in  his  thought, 


THE  COMMERCE  OF  VENICE.  29 

always  fixed  in  his  heart  :  and  on  the  day  when  he  too 
shall  place  his  signature  on  the  great  book  of  fame,  he  will 
wish  with  the  sweet  tenderness  of  a  son  that  by  the  side  of  his 
name  shall  also  be  written  that  of  his  native  land.  Such  was, 
so  acted  John  Cabot.  When  in  1497  he  took  possession  of  the 
new  land  he  had  discovered,  he  raised  there  the  banner  of 
England  in  whose  name  he  took  possession,  but  together  with 
that  he  would  have  the  flag  of  Venice  also  raised  in  triumph. 
Why  so  ?  Venice  had  taken  no  part  whatever  in  fitting  out 
that  expedition,  it  could  make  not  the  least  claim  to  the  rights 
or  profits  of  that  land,  for  he  sailed  in  the  name  of  England, 
for  the  sole  profit  and  advantage  of  England.  Why  then  join 
to  the  banner  of  St.  George  that  of  St.  Mark  ?  There  could  be 
only  one  reason,  to  bind  the  name  of  his  native  land  to  the 
glory  of  that  discovery.  And  who  else  could  feel  in  his  heart 
this  need — I  say  deliberately  need,  for  there  are  moments  when 
attachment  to  one's  birth-place  so  fills  the  heart  with  emotion 
that  it  must  have  vent  in  a  record,  a  word,  or  a  sigh — who 
else  but  one  who  was  Venetian  in  medullis  et  visceribus  t 


CHAPTER  II. 


Venice — Its  relations  with  England — Voyages  of  the  people  of 
the  north  in  the  North  Seas — Youth  of  John  Cabot — His  Endow- 
ments of  mind  and  heart. 

Proceeding  in  our  narrative,  we  continue  in  the  dark  : 
and  having  no  direct  light,  it  will  be  well  to  make  our  way  a 
little  clearer  by  what  we  can  gain  from  a  knowledge  of 
Venice  and  its  condition  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  treating. 

The  fall  of  Constantinople  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks  had 
been  a  fearful  blow  to  the  power  and  greatness  of  Venice  ; 
but  the  blow  was  still  too  recent  for  its  effects  to  be  fully  seen 
and  felt  :  so  that  she  still  went  on  glorious  and  powerful  in 


30 


THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 


the  richness  of  her  commerce.  Alone  of  all  states  she  had  re- 
lations and  treaties  with  every  part  of  the  known  world;  there 
was  no  sea  unknown  to  her  vessels,  no  region  not  reached  by 
her  wares.  From  the  English  and  Russians  in  the  extreme 
north  to  the  Moors,  Hindoos,  Tartars,  and  Mongols  in  the 
furthest  lands  of  the  east  and  south,  the  earth  was  all  overrun 
as  with  a  net  of  roadways  over  which  Venice  sent  and  re- 
ceived her  merchandise  and  merchants. 

Every  year,  as  soon  as  spring  brought  back  the  favorable 
season,  an  immense  caravan  of  ships  and  merchants,  partly 
on  state,  and  partly  on  private  account,  sailed  from  Venice  to 
spread  over  the  east  and  the  west,  and  everywhere  they 
found  their  own  consuls,  privileges,  warehouses,  even  in  Siam 
and  Cambodia.  On  their  arrival  they  found  the  wares  and 
products  of  other  peoples  and  other  lands  ready  and  waiting  to 
be  embarked  on  the  ships  of  the  Venetians,  and  with  and  by 
them  to  be  distributed  amongst  the  nations.  Thus  the  com- 
merce of  every  people  passed  through  the  hands  of  Venice,  she 
furnished  all  the  markets,  to  her  flowed  in  the  wealth  of  all  na- 
tions.* 

In  a  city  where  public  and  private  life  found  the  greatest 
opening  for  their  activity  and  energy  in  commerce  and  navi- 
gation, it  is  natural  that  we  should  find  the  most  diligent  and 
devoted  cultivators  of  geography.  After  Marco  Polo,  justly 
named  the  Christopher  Columbus  of  the  eastern  regions  of  Asia, 
Venice  presents  us  a  series  of  voyagers  and  geographers,  not 
less  wonderful  for  their  number,  considering  the  times,  than 
for  the  intrinsic  value  of  their  voyages  and  labors.  In  the  first 
half  of  the  XIV  century,  Marin  Sanudo,  the  elder,  made  five 
voyages  to  Cyprus,  Armenia,  Alexandria,  Rhodes,  Ptolemais; 
he  visited  Slavonia,  Germany,  Flanders,  Alsace,  France  ;  a 
wonderful  extent  of  country  and  peoples  to  one  who  thinks  of 
the  condition  of  the  roads  in  those  days,  and  the  difficulty  and 
danger  of  communication  between  different  countries.  He  has 
left  us  a  valuable  book  of  his  travels,  rich  in  notes  and  obser- 
vations, on  the  customs,  laws,  and  condition  of  the  different  na- 


*  Romanin,5fon*a  Docum.  iii.  7. 


VENICE  IN  THE  XIV.   AND  XV.  CENTURIES.  31 

tions  he  visited,  and  he  added  maps  representing  the  Medi- 
terranean, the  sea  with  the  continent,  the  Holy  Land,  Egypt, 
etc.* 

The  following  century  saw  first  the  two  brothers  Nicolas  and 
Antony  Zeno  coursing,  bold  navigators  and  explorers,  over 
the  unknown  seas  of  the  north-west  of  Europe;  and  next  Luigi 
da  Mosto  opening  new  paths  to  navigation  in  the  dreaded  seas 
of  the  African  coast ;  while  Nicholas  de'  Conti  labored  for  more 
than  20  years  to  penetrate  and  explore  regions  of  Asia,  either 
Avholly  unknown,  or  known  only  by  name.  And  whilst  these 
and  many  others — whom  it  would  take  too  long  to  mention 
all — were  furnishing  by  their  reports  a  precious  treasure  of 
new  information  about  peoples,  places,  products,  other  Vene- 
tians, at  home,  in  the  silence  of  their  libraries,  were  studying 
to  improve  and  multiply  maps  and  geographical  charts, 
from  the  Portolan  of  the  Genoese  Visconti,  executed  at  Venice 
in  1318  to  the  marvellous  planisphere  of  Fra  Mauro  completed 
about  1470. 

The  brothers  Pizzagano  published  in  1357  a  Map  of  the 
world  as  then  known  ;  Marco  Trevisani  in  1378  gave  a  sort  of 
Cosmography  in  six  books;  1426  beheld  the  hydro-geograph- 
ical charts  of  Giacomo  dei  Giraldi;  1436  those  so  celebrated  of 
Andrea  Bianco  :  and  eight  years  later,  in  1444  Pietro  Versi 
published  his  Raxon  de'  Marinieri,  followed  by  his  Raxon  de 
Martoloio  per  navigare  a  mente.  f 

Thus  the  name  of  Venice  was  sounded  throughout  Europe, 
not  only  as  the  greatest  emporium  of  commerce,  but  also  as  the 
first  school  of  geographical  knowledge.  Thither  flocked  Flem- 
ings, Portuguese,  Germans,  foreigners  of  every  nation,  to  learn 
of  Venetian  masters  mathematics  and  navigation,  the  arts  of 
cartography  and  map-coloring.  In  the  judgment  of  Karl 
Hitter,  Albert  Durer  owes  mainly  to  his  studies  in  Venice  the 


*Agostini  Scrittori  Veneziani,  1,  440.  The  title  of  the  book  is  "Liber  Secretorum 
Fidelium  Cracis  super  terrae  sanctae  reeuperatione."  Its  aim  was,  as  the 
title  indicates,  to  arouse  Christendom  to  an  energetic  crusade, showing  how  to 
conduct  it,  the  roads  to  follow,  the  places  to  attack,  products,  populations, 
etc. 

fRomanin,  St.  Docum,  iii.  7. — iv.  450 


32  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

wonderful  ability  shown  in  his  geographical  drawings.* 
5  It  is  my  conviction,  as  I  have  already  said,  that  it  was  in 
these  schools  that  the  young  John  Cabot  was  brought  up  to 
know  and  love  the  sea,  and  that  the  education  there  received 
found  its  necessary  complement  in  practical  life  amongst  the 
bold  youths  who  made  the  name  of  Venice  feared  and  re- 
spected in  every  land  and  on  every  sea.  But  too  great  ob- 
scurity shrouds  the  view,  and  we  can  only  follow  him  in  im- 
agination in  the  dauntless  activity  of  his  youth  in  which  he 
was  training  for  the  great  enterprises  he  carried  out  in  his  man- 
hood. The  only  mention  of  him  that  we  find  in  this  first 
period  of  his  life,  is  made  by  Don  Raimondo  da  Soncino  in 
his  letter  to  the  Duke  of  Milan,  in  which  he  relates  that  John 
Cabot  told  him  "that  he  had  formerly  been  in  Mecca  where 
spices  are  brought  by  caravans  from  distant  countries,  and 
when  those  that  brought  them  were  asked  where  the  spices 
grew,  they  replied  that  they  did  not  know,  but  these  goods  were 
brought  to  their  country  from  far-off  lands  by  other  caravans 
who  said  they  had  been  brought  to  them  from  regions  still 
more  remote,  "f  These  words,  few  as  they  are,  give  us  an  indi- 
cation of  the  extent  of  his  commercial  navigations,  and  a  sure 
proof  of  his  desire  to  look  beyond  the  horizon  which  bounded 
the  navigation  and  commerce  of  that  time.'l 

From  this  extreme  limit  of  the  Venetian  commercial  world 
at  the  end  of  the  Red  Sea,  history  to  find  John  Cabot  again  takes 
us  with  a  rebound  to  the  opposite  extremity  in  the  seas  of  the 
North  to  the  ports  of  England.  There  were  very  extensive  com- 
mercial relations  between  Great  Britain  and  Venice,  and  even 
in  the  first  half  of  the  XIV  century  we  find  mention  of  Vene- 
tian embassies  to  the  rulers  of  those  islands  for  extending  and 
securing  that  trade.:]:  There  was  in  England  a  flourishing  col- 
ony governed  in  a  republican  form  by  its  own  consuls  and  a 
council  of  merchants,  among  whom  were  many  patricians  of 


*  Die  Erdkunde  im  Verhalfnisse  zur  Natur  and  Geschicbte  des  Menscliens, 
Berlin,  1822-54. 

f  See  App.  xiii.  By  Mecca  we  are  not  to  understand  the  city  proper,  but  the 
neighboring  shores  of  the  Red  Sea. 

\  Roman  in,  Storia  Documentata  di  Venezia  iii  7. 


VOYAGES  OF  THE  NORSEMEN.  33 

great  houses  ;  whence  it  often  happens  that  in  reading  Vene- 
tian documents  we  find  patricians  designated  as  of  London.* 
The  loading  was  done  at  the  city  of  Bristol,  then  the  first  port 
of  the  island.  In  this  city  we  again  find  John  Cabot  from  a 
mere  commercial  navigator  presented  to  history  as  the  discov- 
erer of  new  islands  and  lands.  He  had  settled  in  England, 
as  his  son  relates,  bringing  all  his  family  with  him  from 
Venice,  f  In  what  year  this  was  is  unknown,  but  from  some 
dates  in  the  life  of  his  son  Sebastian,  of  which  we  shall  speak 
further  on,  it  may  be  settled  that  it  was  about  1477. 

But  here  before  proceeding  to  discourse  of  his  work,  it  will 
not  be  amiss  to  recall  briefly  the  excitement  for  navigating 
unknown  seas  and  discovering  new  regions,  which  at  that 
time  prevailed  among  men  of  the  sea. 

For  more  than  half  a  century  the  Portuguese  had  pressed 
forward  along  the  tempestuous  coasts  of  the  Atlantic  and, 
though  the  results  were  not  very  showy,  there  was  yet  enough  to 
magnify  the  fruit  gathered  and  to  strengthen  hope  for  greater 
in  the  future.  That  there  was  much  discussion  of  those  voy- 
ages amongst  men  of  the  sea,  and  their  imagination  and 
heart  excited  thereby,  is  proved  by  the  fact  of  foreigners  hast- 
ening to  those  adventures  and  acquiring  in  them  a  fame 
that  will  never  perish  in  the  memory  of  posterity.;): 

England  then  came  last  of  maritime  nations,  and  was  wholly 
without  the  circle  of  the  enterprises  in  which  the  activity  of  the 
Portuguese  was  exercised.  But  the  report  of  what  was  doing 
in  the  southern  seas  had  a  special  effect  on  the  fancy  of  the  few 
seamen  who  wandered  about  the  ports  of  England,  owing  to 
the  memory  preserved  in  their  traditions  of  similar  attempts 


*Agostino  Sagredo,  in  Rawdon  Brown's  "  Preliminary  note  to  the  records 
of  Venice,"  1865. 

f'Sebastiano  Caboto  mi  disse  che  sendosi  partito  suo  padre  da  Venczia  gift 
molti  anni  et  andato  a  stare  in  Inghillerra  a  far  mercantie."  Ramusio.  See 
App.  xix. — And  Lorenzo  Pasqualigo,  "e  con  so  moger  venitiana,  e  co  so  noli 
a  Bristo."  See  App  xi. 

X  The  reader  will  perceive  that  I  allude  to  the  Genoese  Antonio  Usodimnre  and 
the  Venetian  Luigi  Cadamosto.  to  whom  is  due  the  discovery  of  the  Cape 
Verde  Islands,  which  at  this  time  wa<*  the  most  important  result  that  had  been 
achieved  by  the  expeditions  promoted  l»y  Prince  Henry. 

3 


34  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

by  their  fathers  long  before  in  the  seas  of  the  North.  The  fame  of 
the  achievements  in  the  southern  seas  must  more  than  ever  re- 
new this  recollection  and  stimulate  by  example  to  beginning 
again  the  interrupted  work  with  greater  vigor.  For  us  the 
memory  of  those  traditions  starts  some  years  later,  but  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  English  mariners  had  always  a  more 
or  less  lively  remembrance  of  them  as  a  matter  closely  in- 
teresting their  imagination  and  pride,  for  the  more  backward  a 
people  is  in  civilization  the  more  tenacious  it  is  of  its  oral 
traditions,  and  because  in  the  poverty  of  relations  with  other 
countries  in  which  England  then  was  there  could  be  no  more 
acceptable  subject  of  conversation  to  seamen.  If  in  the  course 
of  time  this  remembrance  faded  and  was  even  lost,  it  was  pre- 
cisely because  more  recent  voyages  and  discoveries  furnished 
vaster  and  pleasanter  themes  for  their  discourse,  and  the  faint 
remembrance  of  ancient  deeds  is  obscured  by  the  splendor  of 
fresher  achievements  until  by  historical  research  or  chance  is 
restored  to  the  light  of  day  what  had  long  lain  buried  in 
profound  obscurity. 

Let  the  reader  recall  to  his  memory  the  adventurous  life  of 
the  Normans,  or  Northmen,  who,  sustained  by  the  doctrine  of 
Woden  promising  Paradise  to  those  slain  by  hostile  steel,  issu- 
ing with  savage  boldness  from  their  native  shores  of  Jutland  or 
Scandinavia,  ploughed  the  seas  of  the  north  with  their  little 
fleets,  and  threw  themselves  now  on  this  land  now  on  that,  rob- 
bing and  devastating  everywhere.  On  one  of  these  excursions 
in  861,  Nadod,  one  of  their  pirates,  driven  by  the  fury  of  the 
winds  and  tempests  to  a  frightful  distance  northwards,  dis- 
covered Iceland.*  A  colony  was  at  once  settled  in  the  new 
land  and  continued  in  these  new  seas  the  same  bold  course  as 
they  had  followed  in  those  of  their  mother  country.  The 
same  chance  which  occurred  to  Nadod  in  861,  was  often 
repeated  in  connection  with  other  lands.    In  this  manner  one 


*  Some  indentify  Iceland  with  the  Thule  of  the  ancients  ;  others  regard 
Thule  as  Mainland,  the  central  island  of  the  Orcades,  unwilliugto  believe  that 
the  ancients  ventured  so  far  north  in  their  voyages.  But  even  admitting  that 
the  ancients  knew  of  Iceland,  that  could  have  had  no  material  influence  on 
Nadod's  discovery,  all  trace  of  it  having  been  lost. 


THE    DISCOVERY    OF    GREENLAND.  35 

Erik  Raude  (Erik  the  Red)  in  983  touched  the  eastern  shore 
of  Greenland  at  about  64°  of  Latitude,  and  coasting  around 
its  southern  extremity  (Cape  Farewell)  he  went  on  to  establish 
himself  in  the  gulf  and  fjord  of  Igaliko  on  the  western  coast.* 
A  colony  started  here  in  985.  Sailing  thither  in  the  next  year 
young  Bjarn,  son  of  Herjulf  one  of  the  founders  of  the  colony, 
was  driven  from  his  course  by  a  furious  storm  accompanied 
with  cloudy  darkness.  When  after  a  few  days  the  sea  was 
again  calm  and  the  sky  clear  he  found  himself  in  front 
of  a  different  land  from  the  one  he  was  seeking.  There  are 
various  opinions  as  to  what  precise  land  it  was,  but  it  was  cer- 
tainly a  part  of  North  America.  Numerous  colonists  flocked 
thither  from  Greenland,  and  seem  to  have  increased  in  popula- 
tion and  prosperity,  f  But  Greenland,  which  is  represented 
as  then  blessed  with  a  habitable  climate,  afterwards,  from 
causes  not  yet  well  explained,  became  unhabitable  for 
its  severe  cold  and  eternal  frost.  X  From  this  cause,  and 
from  the  loss  of  the  fierce  energy  of  the  old  Normans,  every 
bond  with  the  old  world  was  broken,  and  even  the  memory 
of  it  was  lost,  so  much  so  that  when,  at  the  end  of  the 
XV  and  in  the  XVI  century,  new  expeditions  from  Europe 
reached  its  shores,  every  one  believed  that  they  were  then  first 
brought  to  the  sight  of  white  men.  And  but  for  the  minute 
scrutiny  of  recent  historical  criticism,  which  from  the  slight- 
est indication,  can  extract  materials  for  rebuilding  the  past, 
nothing  would  be  known  of  those  old  adventures.  But  if  all 
memory  of  them  was  lost  to  history,  it  is  certain  that  in  the 
tales  and  fancy  of  the  mariners  descended  from  those  old 
Normans,  there  must  have  remained  some  recollection,  even 
though  wrapped  up  in  legends.  And  the  seamen  of  Eng- 
land were  the  descendants  of  the  Normans.  This  is  all  the 
more  likely  if  we  consider  that  from  time  to  time  similar  cases 
to  that  of  the  Normans  were  happening,  of  ships  driven  from 
their  course  by  the  wind  and  cast  on  distant  shores  lost  in  the 
Ocean's  immensity.  It  will  suffice  to  mention  the  case  of  An- 
tonio Zeno,  whose  being  driven  by  storm  on  a  little  island  lost 


*  G.  Gravier,  ib.  c.  iv  Yld.  ib.  c.  v.  %  Id.  P.  iii.  Ch.  i 


36  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

in  the  middle  of  the  ocean,  became  the  occasion  of  the  fa- 
mous voyages  of  himself  and  his  brother  in  the  northern  seas. 
He  went  again  to  where  the  tempest  had  driven  him,  and  re- 
lated his  adventures,  and  voyages,  and  his  and  his  brother's 
deeds  and  bravery  are  known  to  the  whole  civilized  world. 
But  who  shall  say  how  many  other  mariners  that  are  un- 
known may  have  been  in  the  same  case  and  were  afterwards 
unable  to  regain  their  accustomed  harbors  and  describe  to  their 
comrades  the  fearful  shores  they  had  seen  ?  Moreover  Iceland 
certainly  retained  the  memory  of  the  old  Norman  voyages 
and  discoveries  in  the  Eddas,  religious  songs  of  its  bards,  and 
the  Sagas,  the  traditional  legends  of  its  people.  Some  like 
memory  of  them  must  have  been  preserved  in  England.  At  the 
tale  of  the  Portuguese  voyages  and  discoveries  in  the  southern 
seas  these  traditions  would  naturally  be  illuminated  with  un- 
usual splendor  to  the  mind  of  the  English  mariners,  and 
strongly  attract  them  to  tempt  again  the  unknown  regions  of 
the  northern  seas  so  bravely  and  fortunately  sailed  over 
by  their  ancestors. 

It  was  under  the  impulse  of  these  examples  and  appeals, 
that  in  1480  the  citizens  of  Bristol  launched  a  small  ship,  and 
giving  the  command  to  the  ablest  seaman  they  had,  sent  it 
west  of  Iceland  in  search  of  the  island  of  Brazil.* 

The  expedition  lasted  two  months,  from  July  15  to  Sep- 
tember 18,  and  returned  without  any  result.  The  failure  of 
this  expedition  seems  to  have  destroyed  all  their  courage  for 
a  new  attempt ;  for  the  Spanish  ambassador,  writing  to  his 
king  of  the  discovery  by  Cabot,  and  mentioning  the  other 
attempts  made  some  years  before  by  the  men  of  Bristol  begin- 


*"I480 die  jullij  navis  .  .  .et.  .  .  Joh(ann)\s  Jay  iunioris  ponderis  80doliorum 
inceperunt  viagium  apud  portum  Bristollire  de  Kyngrode  usque  ad  insulam  de 

Brasylle  in  occidentali  parte  Hiberniae,  sulcando  maria  per et   .... 

Thlyde  est  magister  scientificus  marinarius  tocius  Angliae,  et  nova  venerunt 
Bristolliae  die  lunae  18  die  septembris,  quod  dicta  navis  velaverunt  maria  per 
circa  9  (sic)  menses  nee  invenerunt  insulam  sed  per  tempestns  maris  reversi 
sunt  usque  portum.  ...  in  Hibernia  pro  reposicione  navis  et  mariniorum." 

Itinerarium  Willelmi  Botoner,  diet  de  Worcestre,  ms.  in  the  Library  of  the 
College  of  Corpus  Christi  at  Cambridge. 

From  Harrisse,  Jean  et  Sebastien  Cabot,  p.  44. 


HIS  EARLY  LIFE.  37 

ning  in  1491,  gives  all  the  merit  of  them,  or  rather  throws  all 
the  blame  of  them  according  to  his  view,  on  John  Cabot.* 

At  this  point  we  feel  more  strongly  the  importance  of 
knowing  what  man  Cabot  was,  and  how  prepared  for  the 
difficulties  and  dangers  of  the  new  path  :  but  he  is  still  sur- 
rounded by  the  obscurity  of  night.  We  must  be  content 
with  the  few  marks  saved  from  time's  destroying  work,  and  by 
their  aid  represent  to  our  mind  approximately  what  he  must 
have  been.  *  We  have  seen  at  Mecca  he  first  showed  his  in- 
terest in  voyages  and  discoveries  by  his  inquiries  from  the 
merchants  of  the  east.  The  information  then  gathered  we  shall 
find  him  putting  to  use  after  many  years,  and  drawing  from 
it  arguments  to  support  his  calculations  and  determine  the 
course  he  should  pursue  to  succeed  in  his  discoveries.  This 
activity  of  his  mind  in  collecting  on  all  sides  proofs  and  prob- 
abilities for  the  plans  he  was  meditating,  is  evidence  that  he 
was  not  an  adventurer  driven  by  accident  to  the  career  of 
discovery  ;  but  an  acute  and  calculating  mind  ever  intent  on 
seeing  and  providing  for  his  needs.  Soncino  calls  him  "a  dis- 
tinguished mariner  with  great  ability  in  discovering  new  isl- 
ands ;f  of?  fine  genius  well  skilled  in  navigation.^:"  The  charts 
and  spheres  composed  by  him  are  also  mentioned  by  Soncino,§ 
and  by  the  Spanish  ambassador  Pedro  de  Ayala  ;||  the  Cot- 
tonian  Manuscript  in  the  British  Museum  ;1f  and  the  contem- 
porary chronicler  Robert  Fabyan,  or  whoever  may  have 
been  the  author  of  that  chronicle."** 

Few  as  these  data  are,  they  show  that  when  John  Cabot 
started  on  his  voyages  of  discovery,  he  had  acquired  not  only 
a  long  experience  of  sea  life,  but  also  a  broad  and  deep  prep- 

*  We  shall  speak  of  them  presently.        f  See  App   xii.        %  See  App.  xiii. 

§  "  Messer  Zoanne  ha  la  descriptione  del  mondo  in  una  carta  e  anche  in  una 
sphera  solida  che  lui  a  fatto."  lb.  xiii. 

||  Ayala,  App.  xiii.    "  Io  he  visto  la  carta  que  ha  fecho  el  inventador la 

carta  o  niapa  mundi  que  este  ha  fecho." 

1"  "A  stranger  Venetian,  which  by  a  cart  made  himself  expert  in  Knowing 
of  the  world."    App.  vii. 

**  "A  Venetian,  which  made  himself  very  expert  and  cunning  in  Knowledge 
of  the  circuit  of  the  worlde  and  ilandes  of  the  same  as  by  a  carde ....  he 
shewed."  App.  viii. 


38  THE  LIFE  OP  JOHN  CABOT. 

aration  of  mind  for  the  wants  and  requirements  of  his  new 
caree^ 

He  was  poor  :  Raimondo  da  Soncino  tells  us  so  expressly  ;* 
and  even  without  his  testimony,  we  should  have  inferred  it 
with  certainty  from  the  gift  of  £  10  which  the  King  of  Eng- 
land made  him  after  his  discovery  :  for  although  Henry  VII 
was  miserly  beyond  all  belief,  such  a  present  would  not  be 
made  to  one  who  was  not  obliged  to  count  his  pennies  in 
order  to  live.f  In  this  condition,  "  a  stranger  and  poor," 
as  Soncino  calls  him,  what  hardships  of  toil,  journeys,  and 
repulses,  must  he  have  endured  before  he  found  any  one 
to  listen  to  him  and  advance  the  means  and  necessary  aid  to 
carry  out  his  idea  of  sailing  for  new  discoveries  !  The  dispatch 
of  Ayala  gives  us  a  slight  opening  through  which  we  catch 
a  glimpse  of  the  long  and  thorny  road  he  must  have  travelled 
before  he  reached  the  goal.  /aHe  has  been,"  says  the  dispatch, 
"in  Seville  and  Lisbon  trying  to  get  some  one  to  help  him  in 
this  discovery.  "  £  The  words  are  few,  but  indicate  a  great 
deal.  Let  us  recall  the  life  that  Christopher  Columbus  had 
to  lead  before  he  found  any  one  to  listen  to  him ;  and  our 
imagination  will  be  able  to  depict  the  vast  and  sad  field  of  the 
toils  and  disappointments  of  John  Cabot. 

It  nowhere  appears  whether  his  journeys  to  Spain  and 
Portugal  were  before  or  during  his  attempts  with  the  citi- 
zens of  Bristol,  and,  all  data  wanting,  it  is  useless  to  put  for- 
ward suppositions. 

Of  his  moral  qualities,  we  can  only  speak  of  his  great 
generosity  of  heart,  shown  by  freely  bestowing  on  his  friends 
and  those  who  had  aided  him  the  benefits  which  in  his 
enthusiasm  he  hoped  to  gain  by  his  discovery.§  If  in  this 
distribution  vanity  at  finding  himself  elevated  by  his  dis- 
covery to  so  great  importance  in  the  eyes  of  all  had  some  little 
part,  there  still  is  shown  a  great  depth  of  kindness  which 
prevents  his  shutting  himself  up  in  the  haughty  pride  of  his 
greatness,  but  makes  him  invite  his  friends  and  companions 
to  share  his  triumph. 

*  See  App.  xiii.        \  See  ch.  v.  near  the  end.        %  App.  xvi.       §  App.  xiii. 


DISCOVERY  OF  NEWFOUNDLAND.  39 

In  the  extreme  dearth  of  information  concerning  the  moral 
and  intellectual  endowments  of  John  Cabot,  and  his  whole  life 
in  general,  it  is  a  comfort  to  see  that  all  speak  of  him  favor- 
ably, and  every  break  in  the  thick  darkness  enveloping  him 
either  shows  us  a  trait  of  his  genius  and  energy,  or  some  proof 
of  his  goodness  of  heart.  \  \ 


CHAPTER  III 

The  first  Discovery  of  1494. 

'  The  Spanish  Ambassador,  Ayala,  wrote  to  his  government 
in  July  1498:  "for  seven  years  past,  the  people  of  Bristol,  in- 
cited by  the  fancies  of  this  Genoese,  have  furnished  two,  three, 
or  four  caravels  each  year  to  go  in  search  of  the  islands  of 
Brazil  and  the  Seven  Cities."*  We  have  seen  that  the  per- 
son indicated  by  Ayala  under  the  name  of  Genoese  was  John 
Cabot.  These  few  words  are  all  the  mention  that  has  reached 
us  ol  the  first  steps  of  our  navigator  in  his  career  of  discovery. 
It  only  remains  then  for  us  to  consider  what  efforts  he  must 
have  made  to  induce  the  people  of  Bristol  to  follow  him  again 
in  his  attempts  at  discovery  and  his  energy  in  keeping  them 
firm  to  the  trial  after  repeated  failures. 

Ayala's  words  tell  us  clearly  that  the  sole  object  of  his  voy- 
age from  the  first  was  to  find  one  of  the  islands  said  to  be  scat- 
tered in  the  Ocean,  and  which  for  so  many  years  had  excited 
the  fancy  of  the  men  of  the  sea.  It  would,  therefore,  be  a 
mistake  to  suppose  he  aimed  at  reaching  the  coast  of  Asia  by 
the  west  ;  this  greater  undertaking  was  resolved  on  when  the 
news  reached  London  of  the  first  voyage  of  Christopher  Colum- 
bus, f     This  follows  clearly  from  the  words  of  his  son   Sebas- 


*"Los  de  Bristol,  ha  siete  ano  que  cada  anos  an  armado  dos,  tres,  cuatro  cara- 
▼elas  para  ir  a  buscar  la  isla  del  Brasil  y  las  siete  ciudades  con  la  fantasia 
deste  Genoves."  App.  xvi. 

f  Into  this  mistake  L.  Hugues  among  others,  has  fallen.  He  says  :"Dunng  the 


40  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

tian,  as  we  shall  see  further  on,  when  our  story  shall  bring 
us  to  speak  of  him.*  After  the  discovery  by  Christopher 
Columbus.  John  Cabot,  returning  to  his  accustomed  attempt, 
instead  of  sailing  at  random  on  the  boundless  waters  of  the 
Ocean,  steered  right  to  the  west  in  the  certainty  of  finding, 
after  the  example  of  the  great  Genoese,  the  eastern  shores 
of  Asia.  The  labors  that  had  been  in  vain  on  former  searches, 
now  that  he  had  a  fixed  term  in  view,  were  crowned  with 
success.  He  found  land,  and  he  believed  and  judged  it  to  be- 
long to  the  empire  of  the  Grand  Khan,  f  This  was  on  June 
24,  1494.  A 

His  son  Sebastian  has  left  us  a  record  of  the  fact  in  the 
Planisphere  he  composed  in  the  year  1544.  To  the  right  and 
left  he  places  various  legends  and  inscriptions  in  explanation 
of  various  points  of  the  Planisphere  ■;  and  one  of  these  in  the 
original  Spanish  reads  thus  :  "  This  land  was  discovered  by 
John  Cabot,  Venetian,  and  Sebastian  Cabot,  his  son,  the  year 
of  the  birth  of  Our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  1494,  on  the  24th  of 
June,  in  the  morning,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  First  Land 
Seen,  and  to  a  great  island  which  is  opposite  the  said  land  they 
gave  the  name  St.  John  because  it  was  discovered  that  day.  "J 
The  Latin  version  which  accompanies  this  Spanish  inscrip- 
tion says  more  particularly  that  the  island  was  called  St.  John 
after  the  Baptist,  whose  feast  was  celebrated  on  that  day  by  the 
Catholic  Church.§  In  no  other  place  besides  Sebastian  Cabot's 


repeated  attempts  made  by  John  Cabot  to  reach  Asia  by  nxay  of  the  West, 
Columbus  discovered  the  West  Indies."  Le  Navigazioni  di  G.  Caboto,  in  the 
Memorie  della  societa  geografica  Italiana.  Vol.  i,  p.  287.  The  only  historical 
source  for  what  John  Cabot  wanted  and  sought  in  his  first  voyages  we  find  in 
this  dispatch  of  the  ambassador  Ayala,  and  the  islands  of  Brazil  and  of  the 
Seven  Cities  which  he  mentions,  have  not  the  slightest  connection  with  the 
eastern  coasts  of  Asia,  but  were  supposed  to  be  situated  in  the  middle  of  the  vast 
Atlantic  Ocean.  This  inexactness  however,  in  no  way  diminishes  the  merit  of 
the  distinguished  writer  who  is  a  zealous  cultivator  and  explainer  of  the  his- 
toric geographical  studies  of  our  old  navigators. 

*  In  chap.  vii.  +  See  App.  xi,  xiii.  %  See  App.  iii. 

§" Terrain  banc  olim  nobis  clausam  aperuit  Joannes  Cabotus  Venetus,  necnon 
Sebastianus  Cabotus  ejus  Alius  anno  ab  orbe  redempto  1494,  die  vero  24  Julii 
(sic)  hora  5  sub  diluculo,  qua  terra  prima  visa  appellarunt,  et  Insula  quanda 
magna  ei  apposita,  Iusula  divi  Joannis  nomiuarunt,  quippe,  quae  solemui  die 


THE  DATE  OF  THE  DISCOVERY.  41 

Planisphere,  is  any  record  found  of  this  discovery;  so  that  there 
has  been  great  discussion  on  this  inscription,  whether  it  should 
be  admitted  as  it  stands,  or  an  error  he  held  to  have  occurred 
in  transcribing  it.  And  even  now,  although  the  point  which 
created  the  main  difficulty  has  been  explained  and  entirely 
cleared  up,  the  discovery  of  1494  has  not  succeeded  in  gaining 
a  free  path  among  the  doubts  of  historical  criticism. 

The  question  in  the  past  has  been  this  :  Sebastian  Cabot's 
original  map  of  the  world  has  been  lost,  and  the  only  remain- 
ing copy  is  preserved  in  the  National  Library  at  Paris.  From 
this  is  taken  the  copy  of  the  inscription  which  we  have  just 
given.  Of  the  lost  copies,  only  two  have  left  any  record  of 
this  inscription,  one  of  which  was  at  Oxford,  and  the  other  at 
Whitehall,  Westminster,  engraved  by  Clement  Adams.  The 
one  at  Oxford  was  read  and  copied  by  Nathan  Kochlaff,  called 
in  Latin  Chytreus,  the  other  at  Westminster  was  inserted  by 
Hakluyt  in  his  collection.*  The  inscription  preserved  by 
Chytreus  is  identical  with  that  we  have  just  read  from  the 
copy  of  that  at  Paris.  But  that  given  by  Hakluyt  instead 
of  1494  puts  1497.f  With  Hakluyt  agrees  a  very  old  chronicle 
of  Bristol  which  says  that,  "In  the  year  1497,  the  24th  of  June 
on  St.  John's  day  was  Newfoundland  found  by  Bristol  men  in  a 
ship  called  the  Matthews.":}:  The  evidence  on  each  side  being  so 
evenly  balanced,  opinions  were  divided  ;  some  held  out  for 
1494,  others  for  1497  ;  and  both  parties  sought  to  confirm  their 
opinion  by  the  very  same  point,  both  appealing  to  the  letters 
patent  granted  to  John  Cabot  by  the  King  of  England  in  1496. 
According  to  the  first,  these  letters  absolutely  presupposed 
some  discovery  already  made  by  the  Venetian,  and  therefore 
sustained  the  authenticity  of  the  Paris  and  Oxford  copies  ;  § 
according  to  the  others  these  Letters  have  not  the  slightest  al- 


festo  divi  Joannis  aperta  fuit."      The  Spanish  inscription  has  correctly  June. 
*  See  App.  iii.  t lD- 

%  William  Barrett.  History  and  Antiquities  of  the  city  of  Bristol  compiled 
from  original  Records  and  Authentic  Manuscripts.     Bristol,  1789.  p.  172. 

§  "There  is  no  possible  way  of  reconciling  the  various  accounts  collected  by 
Hakluyt  and  which  amount  to  no  less  a  number  than  six  but  to  suppose  John 
Cabot  to  have  made  one  voyage  at  least  previous  to  the  date  of  the  patent,  and 
sometime  between  that  and  the  date  of  the  return  of  Columbus."     John  Bar- 


42  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

lusion  to,  or  connection  with  any  previous  discovery,  and  from 
^li©ir  silence  on  this  point  they  adduce  their  argument  a- 
gainst  the  date  of  1494.  As  usually  happens  in  such  matters, 
where  the  argument  depends  more  on  the  personal  valua- 
tion of  the  writer  than  on  its  intrinsic  force,  there  was 
great  consumption  of  ink  and  paper,  each  remaining  more 
firmly  convinced  in  his  own  opinion.  The  Westminster 
date  acquired  great  support  from  the  very  name  of  Hakluyt 
who  was  the  highest  authority  on  English  voyages  in  the 
XVI  century.  But  M.  d'  Avezac,  the  erudite  Frenchman 
who  has  rendered  such  valuable  service  to  the  history  ol 
geography,  especially  to  that  of  Columbus  and  Cabot,  had 
the  merit  of  not  only  taking  away  that  support,  but  of  annull- 
ing completely  the  opposition  of  the  Westminster  copy.* 
Hakluyt's  partial  collection  on  the  discovery  of  America 
naturally  loses  in  value  after  his  great  collection  containing 
all  the  navigations  and  voyages  of  discovery  of  the  English  ; 
and  the  second  edition  of  his  great  collection,  published  in 
1598-1600,  improved  and  enlarged,  supersedes  the  former,  and 
on  it  were  based  all  subsequent  ones.  Now  Avezac  had  the 
lucky  thought  of  comparing  the  first  collection  with  the  later 
on  this  point,  and  found  the  inscription  transcribed  from  the 
copy  of  the  Map  of  the  World  in  the  gallery  at  Westminster 
gave  the  date  in  the  first  collection  as  1494,  the  same  as 
the  two  copies  at  Paris  and  Oxford,  and  the  unfortunate 
typographical  error  which  in  the  enlarged  work  changed 
1494  into  1497  was  continued  in  all  subsequent  editions. f 

row,  Chronological  History  of  Voyages  into  the  Arctic  Regions,  p.  32.  Harris  and 
Pinkerton  base  the  granting  of  the  patent  directly  on  the  discovery  of  1494. 
"  Upon  this  report  of  his  the  before-mentioned  patent  was  granted,"  Harris, 
Collection  of  Voyages  and  Travels,  London,  1744.  8.  vol.  ii,  p.  190.— Pinkerton's 
Collection,  vol.  xii,  p.  158. 

*  M.  d'  Avezac  was  the  first  to  point  out  in  the  Cabot  voyages  certain  mile- 
stones, as  it  were,  for  the  guidance  of  the  historian  so  that  he  should  not  lose  his 
way  in  the  great  confusion.  Seethe  Bulletin  delasociete  de geographic,  for  October 
1857,  the  historical  Introduction  to  the  second  volume  of  the  voyages  of  Jacques 
Cartier,  in  1863,  and  in  the  same  Bulletin,  Tome  viii,  Paris,  1869,  the  article  en- 
titled Les  Navigations  terre-neuviennes  de  Jean  et  Sebastien  Cabot. 

\  "  Une  faute  typographique  (plutot  qu'  une  correction  arbitraire  mal  avisee 
a  alteTe  cette  date  1494)  en  cette  mgme  citation  dans  1'  edition  posterieure  du 


THE  DATE  OF  THE  DISCOVERY.  43 

All  the  known  copies  of  Sebastian  Cabot's  map  being  thus  in 
accord,  it  might  reasonably  be  supposed  that  the  date  borne  by 
them  is  that  of  the  original,  which  is  the  same  as  to  say  that 
this  date  is  based  on  the  testimony  of  the  very  son  of  the  dis- 
coverer, or  rather  of  one  who  was  present  at  the  discovery  and 
associated  in  the  labor  and  glory  of  the  discoverer.  In  face  of 
this  authority  what  value  is  to  be  put  on  the  contrary  testi- 
mony of  the  anonymous  chronicler  of  Bristol,  especially  as  no 
one  but  Barrett  ever  saw  or  read  his  work,  and  therefore  we 
have  no  means  of  ascertaining  the  value  of  that  chronicler's 
words  or  the  accuracy  with  which  they  have  been  transcribed? 
I  said  all  the  copies  of  the  map  agree,  notwithstanding  that 
the  inscription  as  given  by  Purchas  has  1497,  for  there  is  no 
question  but  what  he  based  his  collection  on  Hakluyt's;  in  fact, 
in  the  title  itself  he  called  it  "Hakluytus  Postumus,"  a  frank 
declaration  that  he  had  only  enlarged  the  other's  work.* 

As  he  had  before  him  not  the  first,  but  the  second  collection, 
— and  this  is  natural,  for  wishing  to  be  more  extensive  than 
Hakluyt,  he  would  take  as  his  point  of  departure  the  last 
term  to  which  the  other  had  reached  in  his  greater  work — he 
repeated  the  date,  1497,  as  he  found  it  in  Hakluyt's  larger 
work.  It  is  of  no  importance  that  in  Hakluyt  the  chart  is 
said  to  bear  date  of  the  year  1544,  and  in  Purchas,  1549  ;  for 
the  two  being  in  all  else  perfectly  alike,  and  differing  in  the 
same  particulars  from  all  other  copies  which  we  know  of, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  one  is  a  copy  of  the  other,  and  by  an 
error  of  Purchas  or  his  printer  a  9  has  been  substituted  for  a 
4.  Such  error  can  astonish  no  one  who  has  written  much, 
for  he  must  have  observed  how  easily  a  mistake  is  made  in 
copying  figures  which  have  no  special  reason  for  fixing  the 
attention.  The  same  cannot  be  claimed  in  the  case  of  the 
date   of  the  inscription,  for  the  defence  of  this  rests  on  its 


recueil  de  Hakluyt."  M.  d'AvEZAC,  Les  navigations  terre-neuviennes  de  Jean 
et  Sebastien  Cabot— dans  le  Bulletin  de  la  Societe  de  Geographic  T.  xviii. 
Paris  1869,  p.  360. 

*  Hakluytus  Postumus  or  Purchas,  his  Pilgrims,  etc.  London,  1625,-16-26. -The 
fifth  volume  was  published  separately  in  1615,  but  the  edition  of  1626  is  to  be 
preferred. 


44  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

being  repeated  and  confirmed  in  all  the  charts  that  are 
known,  drawn  and  engraved  at  various  times  by  various  per- 
sons, and  moreover  differing  in  several  particulars  one  from 
another,  so  that  there  cannot  be  the  slightest  suspicion  that 
they  are  reproductions  of  the  same  copy.  *  It  is  true  that 
Purchas  says  that  he  has  examined  with  his  own  eyes  the  map 
in  Whitehall  from  which  his  inscription  is  taken  ;  but  that 
examination  was  of  the  map  in  general,  as  to  the  position  of  the 
new  lands  to  which  the  inscription  refers  ;  and  he  had  no  in- 
terest in  the  year  when  the  map  was  printed  as  it  was  of  no 
sort  of  importance  to  the  question  he  was  studying,  for  the 
dispute  had  not  then  arisen  whether  John  Cabot  discovered 
his  first  land  in  1494  or  1497.  Even  Harrisse,  who  refers 
this  first  discovery  to  1497,  pays  no  attention  to  this  differ- 
ence of  the  year  of  printing,  but  regards  the  chart  given  by 
Purchas  as  the  same  thing  as  Hakluyt's.  f  On  what  grounds, 
then,  does  Harrisse  contend  for  1497,  and  hold  out  against  the 
clear  and  absolute  testimony  of  three  copies  of  Sebastian 
Cabot's  map  of  the  world  ? 

\  His  studies  and  publications  concerning  the  discovery  of 
America  give  a  special  importance  to  his  adverse  opinion, 
and  it  demands  attention  and  discussion  more  than  any 
other.  He  begins  by  declaring  himself  averse  to  admitting 
the  date  1494,  because  there  may  have  been  an  error  in  copy- 
ing it.  "I  hesitate,"  he  says,  "to  accept  this  date  of  24  June, 
1494,  first  brought  forward  half  a  century  after  the  events, 
and  which  might  be  only  a  lapsus  of  the  engraver  :  MCCCC 
XCIIII  for  MCCCCXCVII,  an  error  all  the  easier  to  make 
as  the  first  I  s  joined  at  the  bottom  form  a  V."J  Nor  is  he  quieted 


*  See  further  on  in  chapter  xxvii,  where  it  treats  directly  of  the  charts 
and  writings  left  by  Sebastian  Cabot. 

f"Notre  Sentiment,  cependant,  en  admettant  des  fantes  de  transcription,  et 
d'imprimeur,  est  qu'  on  peut  ramener  ces  quatre  descriptions  &  trois  types 
seulement ;  la  carte  de  la  Bibliotheque  Nationale,  la  carte  decrite  par  Chytreus, 
et  celle  gravee  par  Clement  Adam  (that  mentioned  by  Hakluyt)." — Jean  et 
Sebastien  Cabot ;  p.  156. 

^"Nous  hesitons  a  accepter  cette  date  du  24  Juin,  1494,  produite  pour  la 
premiere  fois  un  demi  siecle  apres  les  evenements,  et  qui  pourrait  n'  Ctre  qu' 
un  lapsus  du  graveur  :  MCCCCXCIIII  pour  MCCCCXCVII  ;  erreur  d'  autant 


harrisse's  objections.  45 

by  the  inscription  in  Latin,  which  has  the  same  date  1494, 
not  in  Roman  letters,  but  in  Arabic  figures,  because  he  believes 
for  various  reasons  that  this  translation  was  made  afterwards 
in  the  Netherlands  or  Germany,  without  Cabot's  being  able  to 
correct  the  mistake.  * 

But  this  is  only  a  suspicion  :  his  real  reason  for  rejecting 
that  date  is  that  it  does  not  seem  to  him  to  agree  with  certain 
documents  which  we  have  concerning  the  discoveries  of 
John  Cabot.  Let  us  examine  his  doubts.  January  21,  1496, 
Puebla  informs  his  sovereigns  in  Spain  that  "One  has  gone 
like  Columbus  to  propose  to  the  King  of  England  an  under- 
taking like  that  of  the  Indies."  From  the  reply  of  the  Span- 
ish Sovereigns,  says  Harrisse,  it  appears  that  this  project  was 
at  that  time  a  novelty  at  the  English  Court,  So  far  we  are 
agreed,  but  he  adds  :  "  If  Cabot  had  already  made  a  voyage 
like  Columbus  in  search  of  Cathay  and  had  discovered  two 
years  before  countries  which  were  believed  to  be  the  Kingdom 
of  the  Grand  Khan  or  leading  to  it,  the  ambassador  would 
not  have  attached  importance  to  projects  which  could  now 
be  of  no  consequence,  and  the  Catholic  Kings  would  have 
abstained  from  making  it  the  subject  of  so  significant  a  diplo- 
matic communication  "  f  I  confess  that  I  cannot  seize  the 
thread  of  Harrisse's  reasoning.  If  the  land  was  already  dis- 
covered Cabot's  project  was  of  no  consequence  ?  On  the  con- 
trary, it  seems  to  me  that  the  danger  for  Spain  was  not  in  the 
material  fact  of  the  discovery,  but  in  its  possession  by  some  gov- 
ernment whose  flag  should  open  to  it  the  path  of  commercial 


plus  facile  &  commettre  que  les  deux  premiers  i.  rappoches  a  la  base,  ferment 
un  v."  1.  c.  p.  56. 

*  "  La  traduction  latine  dit  bien  :  Anno  oh  orbe  redempto  1494,  en  chiffres 
romains  ;  mais  cette  version  a  ete  faite  posterieurement  a  la  redaction  de  la 
leirende  espagnole,  dans  les  Pays-Bas,  ou  en  Allemagne,  sans  que  Cabot  put 
corriger  le  lapsus."— lb.  p.  56,  note. 

f'Le  langage  de  la  dep^che  indiquc  que  ce  projet  etait  alorsune  nouveaute  a 
la  cour  d'Angleterre.  Si  Cabot  avait  dejti  fait  un  voyage  comme  Colomb,  a  la 
recherche  du  Cathay  et  avait  decouvert  depuis  deux  ans  des  pays  qu'  on  croy- 
ait  Otre  le  royaume  du  Grand  Khan,  ou  y  conduire,  I'ambassadeur  n'aurait  pas 
attache  d'importance  a  des  projets  desormais  sans  portee,  et  les  Rois  Catholiques 
se  seraient  abstenus  d'en  faire  1'  objet  d'une  communication  diplomatique 
aussi  significative."  1.  c.  p.  57. 


46  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

connections.  This  is  precisely  what  John  Cabot's  request  aimed 
at:  and  it  was  therefore  with  his  application  that  the  danger  of 
Spain  commenced.  In  fact  the  privilege  granted  to  Cabot  bears 
the  date  of  March  5, 1496,  and  Puebla's  dispatch  to  his  sover- 
eigns of  the  21st  of  the  previous  January;  which  proves  that  the 
Spaniard  watched  the  proceedings  and  raised  his  voice  as  soon 
as  he  learned  that  the  council  of  the  English  government  were 
inclined  to  favor  Cabot.  If  the  discovery  of  1494  was  true, 
would  not  Puebla  have  been  bound  at  that  time  to  give  im- 
mediate notice,  it  being  easy  to  foresee  that  the  possession 
would  inure  to  the  English  government  ?  He  would  certainly 
have  been  bound  to  do  so,  if  he  had  known  of  the  discovery. 
That  he  did  not  know  of  it  I  firmly  maintain.  That  John 
Cabot  was  aware  of  the  Bull  of  Alexander  VI,  which  gave 
Spain  all  the  lands  and  infidel  peoples  found  beyond  the  line 
he  indicated,  is  something  too  clear  and  evident  for  discussion. 
As  soon,  therefore  as  he  succeeded  in  his  first  discovery, 
it  was  not  only  his  interest  but  an  absolute  necessity  to  have 
the  support  and  protection  of  some  government.  Without  that 
all  his  labor  would  be  lost  ;  for  Spain,  by  the  privilege  procured 
from  the  Supreme  Pontiff  would  have  risen  against  him  at 
once,  and  what  means  had  he  to  enforce  his  rights  ?  That  after- 
wards so  long  a  time  elapsed  before  he  obtained  his  grant  will 
surprise  no  one  who  reflects  that  he  was  "poor  and  a  foreign- 
er,"* and  under  such  circumstances  it  was  no  easy  or  speedy 
matter  to  obtain  his  request  from  the  English  government.  In 
the  meanwhile  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  keep  his  discovery 
concealed — except  to  the  government  with  which  it  was  to  be 
used  as  the  chief  argument  for  gaining  his  request — lest  Spain 
notified  of  the  event  should  invade  the  land  and  planting  her 
flag  claim  its  possession  This  would  close  his  way  not  only 
to  the  protection  of  England,  but  probably  also  to  future  dis- 
coveries. "But,"  continues  Harrisse,  "if  Cabot  in  1494  had 
found  the  land,  the  new  expedition  (of  1497 )would  have  been 
the  consequence  of  that  discovery,  and  the  new  lands  requiring 
equally  the  sovereignty  of  a  Christian  monarch,  the  text  of  the 


*  Sonciuo,  App.  xiii. 


harrisse's  objections.  47 

letters  patent  of  March  5,  1496  would  have  mentioned  and 
claimed  them.  We  should  find  in  them,  as  in  those  the  chan- 
cery issued  to  John  Cabot  from  Westminster  February  3, 1498, 
for  the  same  purpose  :  'We  authorize  our  well-beloved  John 
Cabot  to  convey  and  lead  the  said  ship  to  the  land  and  isles  of 
late  found  by  him,'  and  not  merely  this  vague  and  trite 
expression  'in  whatever  part  of  the  world  they  may  be  sit- 
uated."'* 

This  putting  forward  of  the  way  in  which  the  chancellor 
might,  could,  or  should  have  acted  seems  to  me  a  useless 
question,  in  which,  if  it  is  easy  to  make  an  assertion  it  is 
equally  impossible  to  prove  or  refute  it.  Why  should  the 
chancellor,  in  case  he  had  to  mention  the  same  matter  twice, 
at  different  times,  two  years  apart,  feel  obliged  to  use  the 
same  words  to  express  it  each  time  ?  Did  he  perhaps  have  an 
established  form  after  which  he  modelled  his  letters  ?  No.  The 
mind  is  free  in  its  movements,  and  it  is  not  wonderful  that  at 
different  times  it  should  use  different  words  to  express  two 
similar  matters.  But  suppose  the  similarity  of  the  matters  re- 
quires similarity  of  expression,  will  not  diverse  conditions 
produce  diversity  in  this  similarity  ?  The  English  govern- 
ment had  the  same  interest  as  John  Cabot  had  to  keep  his 
discovery  concealed.  That  Spain  would  raise  a  cry  and  make 
trouble  was  not  only  easy  to  foresee,  but  was  certain.  In  fact,  as 
soon  as  the  ambassador  Puebla  was  able  to  learn  that  Ca- 
bot's application  had  gained  a  hearing  in  King  Henry's  coun- 
cil, he  wrote  at  once  to  the  Court;  and  both  then  and  afterwards 
he  as  well  as  Ayala  was  persistent  in  complaining  to  the  Eng- 
lish government  against  the  favor  shown  to  Cabot's  voyage,  as 


*  "Si  Cabot  avait  trouve  en  1494  1'  lie  et  les  terres  decrites  dans  la  Carte  de 
1544  ....  cette  nouvelle  expedition  aurait  Ste"  la  consequence  de  la  premiere 
decouverte,  et  les  nouvelles  terres  exigeant  tout  au  moins  la  souvrainete  d'un 
monarque  Chretien,  le  texte  des  lettres-patentes  du  5  mars  1496,  les  aurait 
certaiuement  rappelees  et  revendiquees.  On  y  lirait,  comme  dans  les  lettres  de 
chancellerie  expedites  a  Jean  Cabot  de  Westminster  le  3  fevrier  1498,  pour  le 
mCme  objet :— Nous  autorisons  notre  aime  John  Kabotto  a  conduire  les  dits 
navires  a  la  terre  et  aux  iles  par  lui  recemment  trouvees  ....  Nous  n'  y 
verrions  pas  seulement  cette  phrase  vague  et  banale,  'in  quacumque  Parte 
Mandi  positas  .  .  .'"  1.  c.  p.  58. 


48  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

injurious  to  the  rights  of  Spain.  The  English  chancery  would 
therefore  prudently  keep  silence  concerning  that  first  discov- 
ery, and  speak  in  general  terms  so  as  to  give  less  ground  for  the 
complaint  of  Spain,  who  in  face  of  the  uncertainty  of  the  fact 
would  be  less  suspicious,  especially  as  the  expeditions  sent  out 
for  years  back  by  others  and  even  by  Cabot  seemed  to  promise 
for  this  attempt  the  same  vain  waste  of  toil  and  expense.  It  was 
different  when  Cabot  had  planted  the  English  banner 
in  his  discovery,  and  proclaimed  that  new  land  the  property 
of  England.  The  complaints  and  protests  of  the  Spanish  court 
would  be  more  easily  blunted  against  an  actual  possession. 
Moreover,  was  the  English  government  so  surely  persuaded  of 
the  discovery  by  John  Cabot  as  to  be  willing  to  authenticate 
it  by  its  word  without  further  evidence  ?  I  think  not,  and 
seem  to  find  in  Soncino's  letter  a  sound  argument  for  this 
opinion.  In  reporting  to  the  Duke  of  Milan  this  discovery 
made  by  the  same  Cabot  in  1497,  and  over  which  there  was 
extraordinary  rejoicing  throughout  England  from  court  to 
people,  he  says  :  "  This  master  John,  a  poor  man  and  a  for- 
eigner, would  not  have  been  believed,  if  his  companions, 
nearly  all  of  whom  are  Englishmen  and  from  Bristol,  had  not 
borne  witness  to  the  truth  of  what  he  told."*  This  lie  wrote  of  the 
discovery  made  by  Cabot  after  receiving  his  grant,  that  is  to 
say,  made  under  the  flag  and  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  Eng- 
land. If  so  little  credit  was  given  him  then,  when  he  was 
clothed  with  official  garb,  what  would  have  been  given  him 
when  presenting  himself  as  a  mere  private  individual  ?  Nor 
does  this  view  contradict  the  conviction  before  expressed  that 
the  discovery  of  1494  was  used,  as  the  main  argument  for  ob- 
taining the  grant  applied  for,  because  for  that  purpose  it  was 
enough  for  the  council  of  the  crown  to  have  even  a  doubt  that 
it  might  be  true  since  the  government  ventured  nothing — 
neither  money  nor  name — in  granting  the  request,  but  only 
gave  authority  to  raise  its  flag  in  such  places  as  might  be  discov- 
ered. If  the  previous  discovery  was  true,  England  was  sure  to 
gain  ;  if  false,  it  lost  nothing. 

*  See  App.  xiii. 


Esa  tiera  fue  descubierta  por  loan  Caboto  Veneciano,  y  Sebastian 
Caboto  su  hijo,  anno  del  nasciraiento  de  nuestro  Salvador  Jesu  Christo  de 
M.  CCCC.  XCIIII,  a  veinte  y  quatro  de  Iunio,  por  la  mannana,  ala  qual 
pusieron  nombre  prima  tierra  vista,  y  a  una  isla  grande  que  esta  par  de  la 
dha  tierra,  le  pusieron  nombre  sant  loan,  por  aver  sido  descubierta  el 
mismo  dia  la  gente  della  andan  vestidos  depieles  de  animales,  usan  en  sus 
guerras  arcos,  y  flechas,  lancas,  y  dardos,  y  unas  porras  de  palo,  y  hondas. 
Es  tierra  muy  steril,  ay  en  ella  muchos  orsos  plancos,  y  ciervos  muy 
grandes  como  cavallos  y  otros  muchos  animales  y  semeiantemente  ay  pescado 
infinito,  sollos,  salmoes,  lenguados,  muy  grandes  de  vara  enlargo  y  otras 
muchas  diversidades  de  pescados,  y  la  mayor  multitud  dellos  se  dizen 
baccalaos,  y  asi  mismo  ay  enla  dha  tierra  Halcones  prietos  cuomo  cuervos 
Aquillas,  Perdices,  Pardillas,  y  otras  muchas  aves  de  diversas  maneras. 


THE  DATE  1494.  49 

But  let  us  carry  the  question  to  a  new  field  where  we  can 
move  with  more  freedom  and  surety.  The  ambassador,  Ayala, 
has  told  us  that  John  Cabot  began  his  expeditions  in  1491  and 
continued  them  regularly  every  year.  Did  he  from  the  be- 
ginning apply  for  the  grant  which  he  asked  for  and  obtained 
in  1496,  or  did  he  not  ?  We  have  no  knowledge,  but  with  one  or 
the  other  supposition  we  must  necessarily  get  at  the  truth.  If 
he  had  asked  for  and  not  obtained  it,  what  moved  the  govern- 
ment to  give  in  1496  what  before  it  had  refused  ?  It  seems  to 
me  that  the  only  reason  supposable  is  that  Cabot's  expeditions 
had  begun  to  give  good  grounds  to  hope  for  success,  and 
these  grounds  can  only  be  a  first  proof  of  discovery.  If 
Cabot  had  asked  nothing  before,  why  did  he  ask  something 
now  ?  If  the  confidence  of  those  who  had  aided  him  in  past 
expeditions  still  continued,  there  was  no  reason  for  seeking 
new  aid  to  continue  his  course.  If  it  had  decreased,  how 
could  he,  "a  poor  man  and  a  foreigner,"  arouse  all  at  once  in 
the  government  that  confidence  which  his  old  and  tried  friends 
had  lost  under  his  constant  failures  ?  I  can  very  well  under- 
stand that  if  he  had  presented  himself  to  the  government  as 
wholly  unexperienced,  he  might  by  his  arguments  and  calcu- 
lations convince  it  of  his  ability  to  seek  for  and  discover  new 
lands  ;  but  what  force  of  argument  could  convince  it  of  his 
ability  in  discovery  now  when  a  trial  repeated  for  many  years 
in  succession  proved  the  contrary  ?  If,  in  the  expeditions 
from  1491  on,  he  had  not  considered  it  necessary  to  obtain 
authority  in  case  of  discoveries  to  plant  the  royal  banner  and 
declare  them  the  property  of  the  Crown  of  England,  why 
should  he  think  it  necessary  in  1496  ?— Because  then  in  sup- 
port of  his  demand  he  could  only  allege  the  hope  of  discov- 
ery, and  now  he  presented,  instead,  the  proof  of  a  discovery 
made.  In  conclusion,  from  whatever  side  I  view  the  matter, 
I  find  all  the  circumstances  uniting  with  full  accord  to  con- 
firm the  date  of  Sebastian  Cabot's  Map;  and  therefore  with  inti- 
mate conviction,  I  declare  for  the  discovery  of  1494,  attested 
by  an  eye-witness,— or  rather  one  of  the  discoverers. 

The  claim  of  John  Cabot  of  having  touched  the  American 
continent  four  years  and  thirty  seven  days  before  Christopher 

4 


50  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

Columbus  is  then  confirmed.  *  This  takes  nothing  from  the 
glory  of  that  giant  amongst  discoverers  ;  for  after  he  had 
opened  the  way,  it  was  simply  an  accessory  honor  for  him  to 
have  advanced  more  or  less,  but  it  is  not  a  slight  boast  for  one 
of  his  followers  to  have  preceded  every  one  else  in  reaching 
the  mainland  of  the  New  World.  '  ] 


CHAPTER  IV. 


What  Point  in  North  America  it  ivas  that  John  Cabot  first  discov- 
ered in  1494. — Attempts  to  deprive  him  of  the  honor. 

What  was  the  point  that  John  Cabot  discovered  to  which 
he  gave  the  name  of  First-Seen  f     The  name  of  Newfoundland 
so  similar  in  meaning  to  that  of  First-Seen,  has  long  been 
generally  believed  to  be  that  where  Cabot  first  landed  ;  and 
this   seems  the  more  likely  as  to  the  west  of  the  island  of 
Newfoundland  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  there  is  an  islet 
called  St.   John,  the  very  name  given  by  Cabot  to  the  island 
he  discovered  at  the  same  time  with  the  main-land.    But  the 
name  Neivfoundland  gives  no  aid  to  our  researches,  because  at 
first  the  English  called  by  that  name  all  their  discoveries  in 
the  northern  part  of  America,  which,  for  nearly  a  hundred 
years  only  known  as  a  fishing  station,  had  come  co  be  re- 
garded as  an  appendage  to  the  great  Banks  to  which  their 
ships  resorted  for  their  rich  fisheries.    As  the  only  portion 
of  all  that  land  with  which  the  fishing  vessels  had  constant 
relations  was  the  island  close  to  the  great  Bank,  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  the  name   of  Newfoundland,  common  to 
the  whole  region,  was  gradually  restricted  to  the  island  alone 
and  became  its  proper  name.f 

*  Columbus  first  beheld  the  Continent  of  America  opposite  to  the  island  of 
Trinidad,  on  his  third  voyage, August  1,  1498.  SeeTarducci,  Life  of  Christopher 
Columbus.  Vol.  ii   p.  60. 
f  A  memoir  of  Sebastian  Cabot  with  a  Review  of  the  History  of  Maritime  Discov- 


WHAT  LAND  WAS  FIRST  FOUND.  51 

As  to  the  island  of  St.  John,  not  to  look  for  other  argu- 
ments, it  is  sufficient  that  it  is  historically  proved  that  it  was  so 
called  by  Cartier  in  1534,  because  on  the  Feast  of  St.  John, 
June  24,  it  terminated  his  circuit  of  the  gulf  which  he  had 
begun  on  the  10th  of  May.  At  present,  abandoning  the 
misleading  guidance  of  names,  it  is  usual  to  place  the  first 
landing  at  the  island  of  Cape  Breton,  and  this  new  opinion  is 
based  on  the  Planisphere  of  Sebastian  Cabot,  who,  as  we  have 
seen,  accompanied  his  father  on  that  discovery.  On  this,  where 
the  lands  are  drawn  that  were  discovered  in  North  America, 
there  is  a  peninsula,  the  northern  end  of  which  according  to 
the  scale  of  the  chart  lies  almost  in  the  latitude  of  48°,  30', 
and  at  its  north-east  extremity  are  these  words,  "  First  Land 
seen."  Further  back,  to  the  west,  at  a  short  distance  from  the 
peninsula  and  nearly  in  the  same  latitude,  at  the  beginning 
of  a  broad  gulf  is  a  large  island  which  the  chart  calls  "  Sam 
Joan."  The  figure  8  placed  near  this  land  refers  the  reader 
to  the  corresponding  number  in  the  legends  accompanying  the 
Planisphere,  and  under  this  is  found  the  inscription  already 
given,  where  it  is  said  that  this  land  was  discovered  June  24, 
1494,  by  John  Cabot  and  his  son  Sebastian. 

In  material  configuration  no  part  of  North  America  agrees 
perfectly  with  the  form  presented  in  Sebastian  Cabot's  Map, 
but  this  was  the  common  fault  of  all  the  maps  then  made  of 
America,  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  slight  and  imperfect 
acquaintance  with  it  then  possessed.  But  the  general  shape  of 
the  peninsula  as  well  as  the  correspondence  of  the  latitude 


ery  etc.p.  56.  This  work  was  published  at  Philadelphia, in  1831,  and  at  the  same 
time  printed  and  published  in  Londou.  In  England  its  sale  was  large,  and  a 
new  edition  was  issued  the  next  year,  in  1832.  The  author's  name  was  not 
given,  but  it  was  afterwards  known  to  be  the  work  of  a  lawyer,  Richard  Bid- 
die,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  As  I  have  before  said,  it  is  the  first  profound  work  on 
the  Cabots.  It  is  not  a  history,  but  an  historical  work,  of  value  for  Cabotian 
studies, for  the  author  has  enjoyed  meeting  various  difficulties  and  solving  them, 
and  besides  great  acuteness  of  mind  he  applies  extensive  erudition  in  the  Eng- 
lish voyages  and  navigations.  One  great  fault  of  the  work  is  the  arrangement 
of  the  matters  treated  of  and  of  the  arguments  :  but  a  still  greater  is  the  au- 
thor's obstinate  partiality  in  favor  of  Sebastian  against  the  merits  and  rights  of 
hig  father  John  Cabot.     I  have  used  the  second  edition  of  London.  1833- 


52  THE  LIFE  OP  JOHN  CABOT. 

undoubtedly  represents  the  regions  where  Nova  Scotia  and 
Cape  Breton  Island  are  situated.  As  the  inscription,  "  First 
Land  Seen,"  is  at  the  north-east  extremity  of  this  region  it  must 
correspond  to  the  northern  extremity  of  Cape  Breton  Island. 
But  where  near  Nova  Scotia  and  the  island  of  Cape  Breton 
can  we  find  any  thing  like  the  island  which  Sebastian  Cabot 
on  his  chart  represents  as  further  within  the  gulf  and  a  short 
distance  beyond  the  peninsula  ?  In  Prince  Edward's  Island, 
which  is  just  west  of  Cape  Breton,  and  which  has  also  been 
known  as  St.  John.  True,  the  island  seen  by  Cabot  was 
discovered  the  same  day  as  "First-seen-Land,"  and  the  distance 
from  Cape  North  to  Prince  Edward's  Island  is  seventy-two 
miles,  a  distance  too  great  to  be  made  the  same  day  that 
"First-seen-Land''  was  discovered.  But  if  I  see  clearly,  Cabot 
does  not  say  that  they  touched  the  island  the  same  day, 
but  merely  that  they  gave  the  name  of  St.  John  to  an  island 
opposite,  and  which  was  discovered  the  same  day.*  The 
term  discovered  may  be  very  well  applied  to  what  is  merely 
seen,  and  so  the  difficulty  as  to  the  distance  disappears,  for 
they  saw  the  mainland  at  five  in  the  morning,  and  therefore  in 
the  long  days  of  that  time  of  the  year,  had  ample  time  dur- 
ing the  day  to  proceed  far  enough  to  see,  if  not  to  reach,  Prince 
Edward's  Island. 

Harrisse  measuring  too  mathematically  the  relative  posi- 
tions of  the  north-east  point  of  the  peninsula  on  Sebastian 
Cabot's  chart  and  the  island  of  Cape  Breton,  places  the  first 
land  seen  not  at  Cape  North,  which  is  the  northern  point 
of  Cape  Breton,  but  at  Cape  Fourchu  or  Perce,  which  is 
on  its  eastern  side.f  By  doing  so,  the  distance  from  the 
first  point  of  land  seen  to  Prince  Edward's  Island  is  so  in- 
creased as  to  render  it  absolutely  impossible  for  both  to  have 
been  seen  the  same  day.     As  an  essential  part  of  the  agree- 


*"....  y  a  una  isla  grade  que  esta  par  de  la  d  ha  tierra  le  pusieron  nombre 
Sant  Joan,  por  aver  sido  descubierta  el  mismo  dia."  App.  iii.  A. 

t"ll  y  a  an  Canada  deux  caps  Perce\  Celui  qui  se  trouve  sur  la  cote  N-E  de 
1'  ile  du  cap  Breton,  et  un  autre  situe  daus  la  baie  de  Gaspe,  pies  du  mont  Joli 
ou  Cap  Tiennot.  .  .  .  C'est  le  premier  de  ces  deux  caps  qui  est  le  notre,  d'aprete 
la  carte  de  Bayfield  precitee."  Harrisse,  p.  65. 


Sebastian's  planisphere.  53 

ment  between  the  indications  of  the  Planisphere  and  the  ac- 
count in  the  Legend  is  thereby  lost,  the  possibility  that  the 
first  landing  was  at  Cape  Breton  Island  necessarily  fails. 
But  the  fact  that  for  want  of  exact  knowledge  the  Plani- 
sphere unites  the  island  to  the  mainland  and  makes  it  a  con- 
tinuation of  it  frees  us  from  the  scruple  of  a  mathematically 
exact  agreement,  the  more  so  as  the  capes  are  not  many 
miles  apart. 

But,  it  has  been  asked,  if  Sebastian  Cabot  knew  the  region 
of  Nova  Scotia  and  Cape  Breton  Island  so  well  as  he  shows  in 
his  Planisphere,  how  does  it  happen  that  the  Spanish  charts, 
which  must  have  passed  under  his  revision  as  chief  Pilot,  do 
not  give  the  same  indications,  but  remain  so  far  behind  his 
chart  ?  How  explain  that  all  the  charts  of  that  day  have  a 
long  extent  of  coast  in  the  northern  parts  of  America,  with 
this  inscription  or  its  equivalent,  "This  land  was  discovered 
by  the  English  from  Bristol,"-  and  on  none  of  them  is  Cape 
Breton  Island  comprised  in  that  long  space,  but  on  all  the 
English  discoveries  begin  at  the  north  of  Newfoundland  and 
follow  the  coast  of  Labrador  ? 

All  this  has  naturally  given  rise  to  a  suspicion  that  as  Se- 
bastian Cabot  did  not  publish  his  Planisphere  until  after  the 
exploration  of  those  parts  by  the  Frenchman  Jacques  Cartier, 
he  drew  these  places  from  information  obtained  from  others 
rather  than  from  his  own  knowledge. 

The  former  of  these  questions  may  be  answered  with  the 
words  of  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  who  informs  us  that  the  Span- 
ish and  Potuguese  pilots  were  forbidden  under  pain  of  death, 
to  trace  on  their  navigating  charts  any  mark  whatever  which 
might  put  other  states  on  the  track  of  discovering  the  sighed- 
for  passage  leading  to  the  East  Indies. f 

*  Note  taken  from  the  chart  of  Diego  Kibeiro  (1529),  the  second  of  the  so- 
called  Weimar  charts. 

+"The  Spaniards  and  Portugals.  .  .  have  commanded  that  no  pilot  of  theirs 
upon  paine  of  death,  Should  plat  out  in  any  sea  card,  any  thorow  passage." 
Haklnyt,  iii,  p.  23. 

Leone  Pancaldo,  Magellan's  companion,  in  consideration  of  2000  ducats 
bound  himself  by  notarial  deed  to  the  Representative  of  the  King  of  Portugal, 
September  30,  1531,  "di  nou  insegnare  ad  alcunola  strada  ai  paesi  ultimamente 


54  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

In  consequence  of  this  prohibition,  Sebastian  could  not  pre- 
viously indicate  the  gulf  opening  to  the  west  of  «  Land  first 
seen  ;"  but  was  free  to  do  so  in  1544,  when  his  secret  no  longer 
amounted  to  any  thing,  the  position  of  the  gulf  being  gen- 
erally known  in  consequence  of  Jacques  Cartier's  exploration. 

The  second  objection,  it  seems  to  me,  falls  to  the  ground 
when  it  is  noted  that  Sebastian   Cabot  places  at  Cape  Breton 
Island  the  mere  fact  of  its  being  the  first  discovered  ;  whilst 
the  further  navigations  and  explorations  of  the  English  were 
along  the  lands  of  Labrador.      Hence  it  was  natural  for  the 
map-makers  to  give  the  name  of  English  lands  to  those  where 
the  English  vessels  had  generally  gone  and  still  went,  and 
not  to  the  mere  point   which  had  simply  witnessed  their  first 
arrival.  But  let  us  take  the  first  chart  that  mentions  the  Eng- 
lish discoveries, — that  of  Juan  de  la  Cosa,  pilot  of  Christopher 
Columbus, — composed  in  1500,  that  is,  soon  after  John  Cabot's 
discovery  and  many  years  before  the  places  around  Cape  Breton 
were  known  to  the  world  or  made  famous  by  the  explorations 
of  the  French  navigator  :  and  let  us  see  if  that  first  chart  ex- 
cludes this  island  from  the  English  discoveries.      First  of  all, 
let  us  observe  that  at  this  time  neither  the  Spaniards  nor  those 
of  any  other  nation  than  the  English  had  yet  sailed  to  the 
lands  of  North  America,  so  that  it  must  necessarily  be  admit- 
ted that  Cosa  obtained  his  information  from  English  sources  ; 
and  perhaps  Kohl's  opinion  is  well  founded,  that  Cosa  indi- 
cated those  places  from  a  copy  of  John  Cabot's  own  chart  sent 
to  Spain  by  Puebla  or  Ayala,  ambassadors  in    England.  * 
In  fact,  the  latter  writes  in  his  dispatch,  "I  believe  your  High- 
nesses are  already  advised  of  all  this,  and  also  of  the  chart  or 
map  of  the  world  which  he  made,  and  /  do  not  send  now  the  one 

scoperti,  e  a  nonfare  alcana  carta  geografica  che  iudicasse  quel  cammino."  G.  B. 
Belloro,  Elogio  di  Leone  Pancaldo. 

In  1527  Robert  Thome,  an  Englishman  of  whom  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
speak  further  on,  sending  a  chart  from  Seville  to  the  ambassador  of  Henry 
VIII  to  Charles  V,  cautions  him  to  keep  secret  from  whom  lie  received  it, "be- 
cause it  might  be  a  cause  of  pain  to  the  maker."  Hakluyt.  iii.  p.  129. 

*  "There  is  no  difficulty  in  the  supposing  that  a  copy  of  the  chart  of  Cabot 
may  have  been  seen  by  Coss  in  1500."  Fold,  Hist,  of  the  discovery  of  Maine,  p. 
153.  From  Harrisse,  p.  104. 


Cosa's  chart.  55 

which  I  have  here"*  What  he  did  not  send  then  he  may 
very  well  have  sent  soon  after,  either  of  his  own  motion  or  by 
request.  In  Cosa's  chart  in  the  highest  part  of  the  drawing, 
to  the  west  is  marked  "  Cabo  de  Inglaterra"  and  beside  it 
is  a  small  English  flag.  Another  such  flag  is  marked  fur- 
ther south  near  a  cape  of  St.  John,  and  an  island  called  Trini- 
dad ;  three  more  flags  follow  lower  down  as  far  as  a  cape 
and  a  sea  bearing  the  words  'discovered  by  the  English." 
This  stretch  of  land  engraved  on  the  present  maps  would  be  from 
about  the  middle  ot  Davis  Strait  to  Cape  Hatteras  ;  that  is  to 
say,  approximately  the  extent  of  coast  along  which  according 
to  Ramusio,  Cabot  had  passed.  It  may  be,  as  Desimoni  con- 
jectures, that  Cosa's  chart  should  be  regarded  as  including  two 
periods  of  discovery,  indicated  by  that  cartographer  by  the 
different  Legends  .  1.  ''A  cape  further  east  with  the  name  Cabo 
de  Inglaterra,  with  the  island  under  it,  and  2.  an  extent  of  land 
and  a  sea  further  south  and  west  with  the  legend,  Mar  de- 
scubierto  por  Ingleses."  \  The  fact  is  that  the  first  map  which 
shows  the  lands  of  North  America  not  only  does  not  restrict 
the  English  discoveries  to  the  north  of  Newfoundland,  but 
on  the  contrary  carries  them  a  long  way  to  the  south  of  it  ;  so 
that  Cape  Breton  Island  instead  of  being  excluded,  is  in  the 
very  middle.  What  if  this  island  is  excluded  from  the  English 
section  in  later  maps  ?  Was  not  the  whole  coast  south  of  it  as 
far  at  least  as  Chesapeake  Bay  also  excluded  ?  Yet  that  this 
was  first  seen  and  discovered  by  Sebastian  Cabot  at  the 
head  of  the  English  is  proved  by  the  concordant  testimony  of 
Ramusio  and  Peter  Martyr  ;  and  the  latter  related  it  as  early 
as  1516.  The  southern  portion  of  the  English  discoveries 
was  called  by  the  Spaniards  Land  of  Estevan  Gomez  from 
their  countryman  who  coasted  along  more  or  less  of  it  in  1525, 
twenty-seven  years  after  it  had  been  discovered,  because  they 
first  obtained  knowledge  of  it  through  him.  Is  not  the  case 
the  same  as  to  Cape  Breton  Island  and  neighboring  lands  with 
reference  to  the  French  voyages  and  explorations  ? 

It  seems  to  me  that  a  ray  of  light  can  be  thrown  on  the 

*  See  App.  xvi.  f  Intorno  a  Giovanni  Caboto,  p.  27. 


56  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

question  by  the  direction  taken  by  John  Cabot  on  his  second 
voyage,  and  therefore  I  believe  it  will  be  well  to  anticipate  a 
brief  mention  of  it  here.  Soncino,  writing  to  the  Duke  of 
Milan  says  :  "Master  John  Cabot  ....  sailing  from  Bristol, 
the  western  port  of  this  Kingdom  and  passing  Ireland,  further 
west,  and  then  going  higher  up  towards  the  north  commenced 
to  sail  to  the  eastern  parts.  "*To  know  Cabot's  intention  we  must 
settle  the  order  of  his  ideas  in  regard  to  the  expedition  he  was 
undertaking.  This  is  easy  enough,  for  the  history  of  Christo- 
pher Columbus  just  after  the  discovery  of  the  New  World  is 
an  exact  mirror  of  what  everybody  thought  about  the  lands 
found  beyond  the  Atlantic.  Columbus  left  Spain  with 
the  expectation  of  reaching  the  territory  of  the  Grand 
Khan  :  he  had  touched  land  at  San  Salvador,  Cuba,  Haiti, 
with  the  conviction  that  he  had  come  to  the  land  of  the 
Grand  Khan  ;  he  had  returned  to  Europe  with  the  announce- 
ment never  doubted  by  him  or  anybody  else  that  he  had 
arrived  at  the  land  of  the  Grand  Khan.  Could  John  Cabot  think 
differently  ?  Certainly  not.  Sailing  then  on  an  expedition  of 
discovery  beyond  the  Atlantic  for  the  account  of  England, 
he  did  and  could  only  look  to  reaching  also  the  land  of 
the  Grand  Khan,  which  at  that  time  was  the  ultimate  term 
of  the  desires  and  hopes  of  discoverers  and  traders.  But  if 
the  empire  of  Cathay  lay  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
Cabot  knew  very  well  that  it  extended  an  immense  distance 
from  north  to  south,  and  therefore  was  sure  to  be  found  by 
sailing  directly  west  from  England.  Why,  then,  instead  of  sail- 
ing directly  west  after  leaving  Bristol,  does  he  go  further 
north  and  only  after  reaching  a  certain  latitude  turn  his  prows 
to  the  west.  It  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  he  hoped  to  find 
richer  lands  by  going  some  dozens  of  miles  further  north,  or  that 
he  made  that  bend  without  a  motive.  What  could  have  been 
his  motive  ?  It  was  this  :  In  his  voyage  of  1494  he  came  to 
Cape  Breton  Island,  and  entered  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  sail- 
ing out  by  the  strait  of  Belle-Isle,  and  saw  as  he  sailed  that 
the  country  around  gave  no  promise  of  the  riches  dreamed  of 

*  See  App.  xiii. 


57 

in  the  east.  Consequently  when  returning  in  1497  to  take 
possession  of  the  new  region  in  the  name  of  England,  he 
would  not  go  back  to  places  already  known  to  be  of  no  inter- 
est, but  sought  the  land  he  had  seen  extending  to  the  north 
of  Belle-Isle  in  the  hope  of  finding  places  of  a  different  nature 
from  those  near  First-Seen-Land  ;  and  as  one  who  knows 
what  he  wants  and  has  a  fixed  purpose,  after  passing  Ireland, 
he  sailed  far  enough  north  to  gain  the  latitude  of  the  lands  he 
wanted  to  reach  ;  and  then  sailed  due  west  and  landed  in  the 
region  afterwards  known  as  Labrador.^ 

But,  objects  Harrisse,  "if  Cabot  had  entered  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence  and  afterwards  passed  out  by  the  Strait  of  Belle- 
Isle,  Newfoundland  would  not  have  continued  to  figure  as 
part  of  the  mainland  on  all  the  maps  without  exception,  for 
forty  years  longer.*  This  objection  which  would  be  insur- 
mountable taken  by  itself  alone,  is  solved  and  disappears 
when  taken  in  connection  with  another  fact  in  the  story 
of  Cabot.  It  is  historically  proved,  and  nobody  doubts 
it,  that,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  proper  place,f  Sebastian 
Cabot  on  his  voyage  in  1498,  came  down  the  coast  from 
Labrador  exploring  it  minutely  to  find  a  passage  to 
the  Chinese  countries,  in  the  supposition  that  the  land 
before  them  was  an  island.  He  therefore  could  not 
help  seeing  in  that  close  exploration  the  Strait  of  Belle- 
Isle  and  the  great  expanse  of  sea  between  Cape  Breton  Is- 
land and  Newfoundland,  and,  as  he  was  looking  for  a  passage 
to  the  west,  if  he  had  not  already  known  that  these  two  open- 
ings through  which  he  had  passed  would  bring  him  back 
to  the  Atlantic,  he  must  have  tried  one  or  the  other  to  see 
if  it  was  not  the  passage  he  was  seeking,  and  his  very  search 
would  have  taken  him  along  the  coast  and  so  brought  him 

*"Si  P  on  accepte  la  position  de  la  petite  flotte  de  Cabot  an  moment  ou,  de  P 
lie  du  Prince-Edward,  elle  se  prepare  a  continuer  son  periple.  .  . .  Dans  ce  cas, 
ilcotoya  laGaspesie.atteignit,  les  cotes  du  Bas-Canada  et  vintdeboncherdansl' 
Atlantique  par  ledetroitde  Belle-Isle." 

"Si  celle  avait  ete  la  route  suivie  par  Cabot,  Terre  Neuve  n'  aurait  pas 
coutinue  a  figurer  comme  terre  ferme  sur  toutes  les  cartes  sans  exceptions, 
pendant  quarante  ans  encore."  Jean  et  Sebastien  Cabot,  1.  c. 

f  See  ch.  viii. 


60  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

^  Whoever  is  familiar  with  the  life  of  Christopher  Columbus 
knows  what  efforts  were  made  to  deprive  him  of  the  glory  of 
having  opened  the  path  to  the  New  World  to  mankind.  The 
Cabots  were  exposed  to  a  similar  warfare  for  the  glory  of  hav- 
ing first  arrived  in  the  territory  of  North  America.  Two 
names  have  been  preferred  before  theirs,  those  of  the  Pole, 
John  Szkolny  and  the  Portuguese,  Ioao  Vas  Cortereal.  Of  the 
former  it  is  related  that  he  was  a  pilot  in  the  service  of  Chris- 
tian II,  King  of  Denmark,  and  in  1476  was  charged  by 
his  sovereign  with  the  reopening  to  trade  of  the  path  between 
Denmark  and  Greenland,  of  which  it  is  said,  the  Danes  still  re- 
tained a  lively  recollection.  According  to  this  account,  Szko- 
lny passed  in  front  of  Friesland  and  Greenland  and  reached  the 
coast  of  Labrador  that  same  year.  But  all  the  most  indus- 
trious researches  of  the  greatest  geographers  have  failed  to  find 
any  foundation  for  the  truth  of  this  pretended  expedition!  * 
The  first  to  mention  the  Portuguese  was  Gaspar  Fructuoso, 
a  writer  of  the  same  nation,  living  in  the  XVI  century,  f 
This  historian  writes  that  Ioao  Vas  Cortereal  by  order  of  Affonso 
V  explored  the  northern  seas  as  early  as  1464,  and  discovered 
a  portion  of  North  America,  what  is  properly  Newfoundland 
and  the  "Land  of  Bacalhao,  "  in  consequence  of  which  he  was 
rewarded  by  royal  decree  of  April  12,  1464,  with  the  govern- 
ment of  Terceira  Island.  The  story  of  Fructuoso  was  taken  up, 
enlarged,  and  embellished  by  Cordeiro,  another  Portuguese  his- 
torian in  his  "Historia  Insulana  das  Ilhas  a  Portugal  Sugeytas 
no  Oceano  Occidental,  "published  in  1717  ;  on  the  authority 
of  which  Barrow  gave  it  a  place  in  his  history.:);  Lardner 
took  it  up  on  the  authority  of  Barrow  ;§  others  on  Lardner's  ; 
and  so  it  became  the  general  property  of  history. 

*Alex.  Humboldt,  Examen  critique  de  VHistoire  de  la  Oeographie  du  nouveau 
Continent,  Paris,  Librairie  de  Gide,  1837,  T.  II.  p.  154.— L.  Hugues,  Le 
navigazioni  di  G.  e  S.  Cabotto,  nelle  Memorie  della  Societa  Geografica  Italians, 
1878. 

f  He  wrote  at  the  4zores  in  1590  a  history  entitled  "Saudades  de  Terra." 

"Land  Longings, "which  has  never  been  published,  but  is  still  in  manuscript. 

See  Lucian  Cordeiro,  De  la  Decouverte  de  V  Amerique,  p.  39. 

%  Chronological  History  of  Voyages,  p.  37. 

§  Cyclopedia,  History  of  Maritime  and  Island  Discovery,  vol.  ii,  p.  138. 


PORTUGUESE  CLAIMS.  61 

The  reader  will  find  here  a  real  historical  person  with  all  the 
necessary  details  of  place,  of  time,  and  of  the  other  persons  who 
lived  and  dealt  with  him.  But  an  examination  of  all  these 
details  will  show  what  Fructuoso's  account  amounts  to. 

We  know  that  John  II,  King  of  Portugal,  was  inclined  to 
accept  the  proposal  of  Christopher  Columbus,  but  they  could 
come  to  no  agreement  because  "John  wanted  him  to  accept  of 
the  usual  reward  given  to  those  who  discovered  lands  or  islands 
on  the  African  coast,"  and  Christopher  Columbus  demanded 
much  more,  saying  that  "  his  plan  was  totally  different  from 
any  that  had  been  carried  out  previously,"  and  "not  in  any 
wise  to  be  compared  with  simply  advancing  on  a  path  al- 
ready known. "*  King  John,  notwithstanding  the  great 
results  promised  by  Columbus,  was  undocided  whether  to 
accept  or  refuse  his  offer,  and  submitted  it  to  the  board 
that  had  charge  of  all  matters  relating  to  maritime  discovery, 
and  of  which  the  greatest  geographers  and  astronomers  of 
the  kingdom  were  naturally  members.  The  board  declared 
the  project  of  Columbus  altogether  extravagant  and  visionary.  Not 
satisfied  with  this  answer,  King  John  ordered  a  new  inquiry 
and  referred  the  matter  to  his  privy  council,  which  declared 
that  no  account  should  be  made  of  the  proposal  of  Christopher 
Columbus.  Still  the  King  was  determined  on  a  trial,  and  get- 
ting possession  of  the  maps  and  drawings  which  Columbus  had 
prepared  in  support  of  his  proposal,  he  secretly  sent  a 
ship  in  the  direction  and  by  the  course  which  Columbus  had 
traced.  But  the  mariners  after  proceeding  a  good  distance  to 
sea,  turned  back  "ridiculing  the  project  of  Columbus  as  the  dream 
of  a  feeble  mind  that  saw  land  where  there  was  and  could  be  only 
water."  j- 

How  could  the  board  and  the  privy  council  have  declared 
the  project  of  Columbus  extravagant  and  visionary,  how  could 
the  mariners  ridicule  and  laugh  at  it,  if  Cortereal  had  pre- 
viously seen  and  visited  the  lands  beyond  the  Atlantic  ? 

Fructuoso  says,  and  Cordeiro  repeats,  giving  even  the  decree 


*  Tarducci,  Life  of  Christopher  Columbus, Vol.  i.  p. 67. 
t  Tarducci,  lb.  pp.  69,70. 


62  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

of  King  Affonso,  that  Cortereal  in  reward  of  his  services  re- 
ceived the  governorship  of  the  island  of  Terceira  :  but  I  find 
that  when  the  two  Portuguese,  Gonyalvez  Varco  and  Tristao 
Vaz  Texeira  with  the  Italian  Perestrello  discovered  the  island 
of  Porto  Santo  and  the  Madeira  group,  to  reward  them  and  en- 
courage them  in  further  enterprises,  with  the  ownership  they 
were  given  the  government  of  the  same  lands  they  had  dis- 
covered.* When,  in  1460,  the  Genoese,  Antonio  da  Noli,  was  sent 
to  ascertain  the  number  of  the  Cape  Verde  Islands  which  An- 
tonio Usodimare  and  Luigi  Cadamosto  had  discovered  four  years 
before,  he  too  was  given  the  government  as  well  as  the  charge 
of  colonizing  those  lands,  and  held  it  until  his  death.  How 
happens  it  that  four  years  later  Portugal  takes  an  entirely 
different  course  with  Cortereal,  and  instead  of  sending  him 
back  to  colonize  and  govern  the  land  he  had  discovered, 
sends  him  in  the  opposite  direction  to  govern  a  land  dis- 
covered and  colonized  by  others  ?  As  soon  as  a  new  land  or 
island  was  discovered  Portugal  was  at  once  careful  to  extend 
its  knowledge  of  it  and  attempt  its  colonization  ;  what  reason 
caused  it  to  act  differently  with  the  "Terra  de  Bacalhao," 
and  suffer  it  to  fall  into  such  oblivion  that  but  for  the  record 
of  it  made  by  an  obscure  historian  almost  a  century  and  a 
half  afterwards,  it  would  never  have  been  known  of?  But 
there  is  yet  another  knot  to  untie  before  Gaspar  Fructuoso's 
course  can  run  smooth.  The  famous  globe  of  Martin  Behaim 
constructed  at  Nuremburg  in  1492,  shows  all  the  lands  known 
and  discovered  up  to  that  time  ;  how  happens  it  that  it  has 
no  indication,  of  any  sort,  of  the  land  found  by  Cortereal  ? 
No  one  was  more  likely  to  know  of  it  than  Behaim,  for  he  was 
a  most  learned  cosmographer,  and  endeavored  most  zealously 
to  show  on  his  globe  all  the  land  that  was  then  known,  and 
he  not  only  lived  at  the  court  of  Portugal,  but  was  a  member 
of  the  special  board  appointed  by  the  Portuguese  Monarch  to 
inquire  into  the  means  of  improving  navigation,  and  in  1484, 
not  contented  with  hearing  the  report  of  others,  but  wishing  to 
know  from  his  own  sight  the  new  discoveries,  accompanied 

*  Tarducci,  lb.  p.  31. 


PORTUGUESE  CLAIMS.  63 

Diego  Cam  as  the  cosmographer  of  the  expedition.  No  one 
was  in  a  better  position  to  know  of  CortereaFs  discovery,  no 
one  more  desirous  to  bring  it  to  the  knowledge  of  the  civil- 
ized  world. 

Some  may,  perhaps,  be  impressed  by  seeing  that  the 
coast  where  John  Cabot's  first  discovery  was  made  bears  a 
number  of  Potuguese  names  of  gulfs,  capes,  rivers,  and  not 
one  is  called  after  Cabot.  This  fact  is  one  of  the  arguments 
on  which  Lucian  Cordeiro  insists  the  most  to  prove  his  com- 
patriot's prior  discovery.*  But  the  difficulty  bursts  and  dis- 
appears as  soon  as  it  is  squeezed  in  the  hand.  1  We  have  al- 
ready mentioned  that  on  their  first  voyage  the  Cabots  touched 
at  the  northern  point  of  Cape  Breton  Island,  but  that  after- 
wards they  and  the  English  who  followed  them,  continued 
their  navigations  more  to  the  north  along  the  coast  which  they 
called  of  the  Baccalaos  and  which  is  now  known  as  Labrador. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Portuguese  Caspar  Cortereal,  son  of 
Ioao  Vaz,in  1500,  sailed  to  and  explored  the  seas  and  lands  near 
the  place  of  that  first  discovery.  He  naturally  gave  names 
to  the  places  he  discovered,  and  as  these  places  came  to  be  gen- 
erally known  and  began  to  be  visited  by  ships  from  Europe 
after  his  navigation,  it  is  easy  to  see  why  they  should  be  called 
by  the  names  he  gave,  and  no  trace  should  remain  of  the  gen- 
eral term  First-Seen-Land  given  by  the  Cabots,  which  only 
indicated  the  simple  record  of  the  first  discovery,  and  left  for 
European  navigators  no  designation  for  the  special  knowl- 
edge of  the  places.  ^  It  is  also  well  to  remember  that  the 
Portuguese  and  Spaniards  at  that  time  possessed  the  field  of 
discovery,  and  the  fresh  results  obtained  by  them  were  looked 
for  in  Europe  and  at  once  made  known  ;  whereas  the  Eng- 
lish were  coming  forward  for  the  first  time,  and  with  a  discov- 
ery which  seemed  of  no  importance.  Is  it  any  wonder,  then, 
that  the  matter  was  not  known  in  Europe,  and  that  the  mod- 
est advance  of  these  new  champions  should  be  eclipsed  by 
the  noisy  and  pompous  arrival  of  champions  already  every- 


*  Luciano  Cordeiro,  De  la  decouverte  de  V  Amerique,  Paris,  Veuve  I ...  P... 
AillaudetC.  1876,  p.  80. 


64  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

where  known  and  celebrated  ?  But,  it  is  said,  in  the  Atlas  of 
Vaz  Dourado  preserved  in  the  Library  of  Munich,  the  map  of 
North  America  along  the  coast-line  of  Labrador  bears  the 
names  of  Gulf  of  Ioao  and  Land  of  lodo  Vaz.  And  a  copy  of 
the  same  map  made  in  Goa  in  1571,  has  the  same  names.* 
And  what  then  ?  Is  the  name  of  a  person  given  to  a  place  an 
argument  to  prove  that  he  discovered  it  ?  If  that  is  so,  Prince 
Edward's  Island  must  have  been  discovered  by  the  father  of 
the  present  Queen  of  Great  Britain. f  And  an  inmense  num- 
ber of  other  islands  and  lands  must  have  been  discovered  by 
the  Isabellas,  Carolines,  Mariannes,  Ferdinands,  Philips, 
Georges  :  in  a  word,  the  reigning  houses  of  Spain,  Portugal, 
England  could  boast  of  a  fine  number  of  Princes  and  Princesses 
who  were  navigators  and  discoverers.  They  had  the  same 
part  in  discovering  the  islands  and  lands  bearing  their  name 
that  Ioao  Vaz  had  in  discovering  the  gulf  and  land  named 
after  him.  The  only  difference  is  that  if  the  names  of  princes 
were  sometimes  introduced  out  of  gratitude,  it  was  more 
often  from  adulation,  whilst  here  it  was  the  noble  and  holy 
affection  of  a  son.  It  is  nothing  strange  that  Gaspar  Cortereal 
among  the  many  names  he  was  conferring  should  have 
given  his  father's  also  to  a  gulf  and  a  land.  Nor  is  it  wonder- 
ful that  so  many  years  later  in  designating  the  map  of  those 
places  there  should  be  found  amongst  others  the  name  of 
Ioao  Vaz. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  first  Letters  Patent. — Expedition  of  1497. 

The  three  different  accounts  which  we  have  of  the  old  Bris- 
tol chronicle  agree  in  saying  that  John  Cabot  drew  the  King 
of  England  into  his  design   by  force   of  the   knowledge  he 

*Peschel,  Qeschichte  der  Entdeckungen,  p.  330. — From  the  article  of  L. 
Hugues  before  cited,  in  the   Memorie  delta  Societd  Oeografica  ltaliana,  1878. 

f  The  Duke  of  Kent,  son  of  George  III.  The  island  was  named  after  him 
when  he  was  in  North  America  at  the  head  of  the  British  fleet. 


VOYAGES  OF  1497.  65 

showed  of  how  to  carry  into  effect  the  project  he  proposed. 
"This  year,"  says  one  of  them,  *'  the  King  (by  means  of  a  Ven- 
etian, which  made  himself  very  expert  and  cunning  in  Knowl- 
edge of  the  circuit  of  the  world,  and  islands  of  the  same  as  by  a 
carde,  and  other  demonstrations  reasonable  hee  shewed)  caused 
to  man  and  victuall  a  shippe,"  etc.'1  The  same  thing  is  re- 
peated by  the  other  two  in  the  same  words.*  And  this  is  the 
only  information  we  have  of  the  long  negotiations  which 
must  have  preceded  the  granting  of  the  letters  patent  to  John 
Cabot  by  the  King  of  England/  Henry  VII  was  reigning 
at  that  time,  a  king  who  with  many  fine  qualities,  was  so  ex- 
tremely penurious  and  miserly  that  I  doubt  if  his  equal 
ever  sat  on  a  throne.  As  such  natures  are  generally  led  by 
their  fear  and  dislike  of  spending  money  to  put  a  drag  on  all 
negotiations,  the  opposition  arising  from  the  character  of  the 
English  monarch  should  no  doubt,  be  counted  amongst  the 
difficulties  which  John  Cabot  had  to  meet  and  overcome.  And 
it  is  worth  noting  that  the  royal  patent  makes  express  pro- 
vision that  the  expenses  of  the  expedition  shall  be  at  Cabot's 
sole  charge  ;  the  government  reserving  itself  the  right  to 
share  in  the  profits  if  it  succeeds,  f  ' 

The  patent  bears  date  of  March  5,  1496,  and  is  in  favor  of 
John  Cabot,  and  also  of  his  sons,  Lewis,  Sebastian, and  Sanzio. 
and  their  descendants  and  heirs.  It  gives  them  the  right  to  sail 
in  any  part,  country,  and  sea  of  the  east,  west,  and  north,  un- 
der the  English  flag,  with  five  ships  of  any  burden  or  qual- 
ity, and  any  number  of  men  they  wished,  but  all  at  their  own 
expense,  to  look  for  and  discover  new  lands  of  infidels  and 
pagans,  whatever  and  wherever  situated  which  before  that  time 
had  been  unknown  to  all  Christians.  They  might  raise  the  royal 
banner  in  any  place  or  land  they  should  discover,  take  pos- 
session and  exercise  jurisdiction  in  the  name  of  the  King 
of  England.  The  vessels  to  and  from  those  places  were  all  to  sail 
from  and  enter  the  port  of  Bristol,  and  the  patentees  were 
given  the  exclusive  right  to  visit  the  new  lands  discovered 


*  See  App.  vii.  viii.  ix. 

t  Suiseteorum  propriis  sumptibus  et  expensis App.  v. 

5 


66  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

and  to  trade  with  them.  One  fifth  of  the  net  income  from 
the  expedition  was  reserved  to  the  crown.  They  and  their  heirs 
were  to  have  the  lands  they  discovered  and  occupied  in  per- 
petual fee  as  subjects  and  vassals  of  the  King  of  England,  with 
the  absolute  prohibition  for  any  Englishman  to  visit  those 
places  without  the  permission  of  John  and  his  sons  or  their 
delegates  and  representatives  under  pain  of  confiscation,  not 
only  of  their  ships,  but  of  all  their  property.* 

Whatever  the  cause  of  delay,  the  undertaking  approved  in 
1496  was  not  carried  into  effect  till  1497.  In  explanation  of 
the  delay  it  has  been  suggested  that  Spain  raised  obstacles  to 
Cabot's  project,  and  this  may  very  likely  have  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  it. '  But  perhaps  the  very  difficulty  of  or- 
ganizing the  expedition  is  a  sufficient  explanation,  if  we  con- 
sider that  Cabot  was  poor,  and  could  not  very  easily  have 
found  any  one  to  bear  the  necessary  expensed  As  the  months 
suited  for  navigation  were  those  from  spring  to  the  middle  of 
summer,  and  the  proposed  voyage  promised  to  be  long,  much 
of  the  good  season  might  have  passed  before  he  could  get 
ready,  so  that  it  would  be  necessary  or  prudent  to  wait  till  the 
next  year.  In  fact  the  expedition  sailed  in  1497  in  the  be- 
ginning of  May,  and  it  could  not  have  been  ready  by  that 
time  in  1496,  less  than  two  months  from  the  granting  of  the 
patent  required  for  the  voyage. 

How  many  ships  composed  the  expedition?  Pasqualigo  says 
in  general  terms  "  with  a  vessel";  Soncino  more  specially, 
"with  a  vessel  and  18  persons."  f  The  contemporary  chron- 
icle of  Bristol,  in  the  Cottonian  collection  as  well  as  in  the 
collections  of  Hakluyt  and  Stow,  has  it  a  ship  manned  at  the 
king's  expense  and  three  or  four  other  small  vessels  furnished 
by  citizens  of  Bristol,  on  which  some  merchants  of  that  city 
and  of  London  ventured  some  merchandise.^: 

Which  of  these  is  the  true  account  ?  I  notice  that  the 
account  in  the  chronicle  is  in  contradiction  with  the  words  of 
the  patent, which  expressly  provides  that  the  expedition  shall 
be  at  the  sole  expense  of  Cabot  ;  but  at  the  same  time  that  the 

*  See  App.  v.  f  See  App.  xi.  and  xiii.  %  See  App.  vii,  viii,  ix. 


DISCOVERY  OF  1497.  67 

chronicler  lived  on  the  spot  and  wrote  during  the  expedition, 
and  under  such  favorable  circumstances  it  is  strange  that  he, 
only  a  step  from  the  harbor  out  of  which  Cabot  sailed,  did  not 
know  whether  the  ships  added  were  three  or  four,  and  moreover 
that  his  account  is  very  general  with  no  exact  details.  This 
makes  me  suspect  that  he  wrote  less  of  his  own  knowledge  than 
from  hearsay.  On  the  other  hand,  I  observe  that  Soncino  is  in 
accord  with  Pasqualigo,  and  with  the  terms  of  the  letters  pat- 
ent and  gives  the  precise  number  of  men  that  sailed  on  the 
ship.  This  exactness  of  statement  makes  me  think  he  searched 
for  correct  information  concerning  the  expedition  ;  and  as  he 
tells  us  that  he  became  a  friend  of  John  Cabot,  and  not  only 
gives  conversations  he  held  with  him,  but  even  reports  as  from 
Cabot's  own  mouth  minute  particulars  of  his' future  plan,  I  hold 
that  he  had  his  information  concerning  this  expedition  di- 
rectly from  John  Cabot  himself.  Hence  I  am  inclined  to  be- 
lieve that  the  expedition  was  really  made  with  a  single  vessel, 
but  that  on  its  departure  it  was  joined,  from  hope  of  gain,  by 
three  or  four  other  small  vessels  with  some  small  articles  of  mer- 
chandise for  the  people  that  should  be  discovered  ;  but  that 
neither  Soncino  nor  Pasqualigo  made  any  account  of  these,  as 
they  were  no  proper  part  of  the  expedition  ;  perhaps  also  be- 
cause disheartened  by  the  length  of  the  voyage,  they  returned 
and  left  the  real  ship  of  the  expedition  to  pursue  her  voyage 

alone. 
j- 

The  expedition  sailed  from  Bristol  in  the  beginning  of  May 
and  returned  early  in  August.  This  is  one  of  the  few  points  on 
which  the  various  accounts  in  the  history  of  Cabot  are  in  ac- 
cord. The  contemporary  chronicle  in  the  Cotton  collection  says 
that  the  fleet  took  to  sea  in  the  beginning  of  summer,  which 
expression  in  language  of  seamen  may  very  well  be  under- 
stood in  the  broad  sense  of  the  whole  season  suited  for  naviga- 
tion.* And  in  fact  the  account  as  inserted  in  Hakluyt  says  more 
explicitly  that  the  departure  was  in  the  beginning  of  May.f 


*  " departed  from  the  West  Cunlrey  in  the  beginning  of  somer."    See 

App.  vii. 
ft  .  .  .  .departed  from  Bristowe  in  the  beginning  of  May."  See  App.  xm. 


68  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

Lorenzo  Pasqualigo  writing  to  his  brothers  on  the  23  Au- 
gust on  its  return,  says  it  was  gone  three  months  ;*  then  it 
must  have  returned  early  in  August.  And  in  the  account 
book  of  Henry  VII's  privy  purse  under  date  of  the  10th  of 
that  month,  we  find  this  note  of  expense  :  "To  him  that 
found  the  new  Isle,  10  l.f 

^Arriving  at  the  new  land,  they  went  ashore  and  took  pos- 
session in  the  name  of  the  King  of  England.  There  was  one 
circumstance  accompanying  the  act  of  taking  possession 
which  the  Venetian  Pasqualigo  took  to  heart  with  much  feel- 
ing and  related  to  his  brothers.  We  have  already  mentioned 
it  when  discussing  the  native  land  of  John  Cabot,  as  in  the 
great  scarcity  of  documents  it  seemed  to  have  some  influence 
on  the  decision  of  that  question.  But  here,  in  its  proper 
place,  we  will  briefly  relate  it  again. 

The  ship  he  sailed  on  was  English  ;  nearly  all  the  seamen 
who  accompanied  him  in  the  toils  and  perils  of  the  voyage 
were  English  ;J  he  sailed  for  the  profit  and  glory  of  England. 
On  landing,  therefore,  on  the  new  shore,  after  planting  there 
the  cross,  after  the  custom  of  all  discoverers  as  a  sign  that  they 
took  possession  in  the  name  of  Christ  for  the  spreading  of  his 
Faith  and  his  Law,  he  planted  by  its  side  the  banner  of  Eng- 
land to  mark  the  new  country  as  the  property  of  the  Eng- 
lish crown.  And  then  drawn  by  that  mysterious  bond  which, 
at  every  distance  of  time  and  place,  brings  to  us  the  image  of 
those  dear  to  us,  especially  in  the  most  solemn  and  consoling 
moments  of  life  ;  he  crossed  in  thought  through  the  ocean, 
passed  over  England,  traversed  Europe,  and  sought  on  the 
shore  of  the  Adriatic  the  glorious  Queen  of  the  Lagoons. 
Twenty  years  had  passed  since  he  left  her,  but  neither  length  of 
time  nor  distance  of  place  could  weaken  his  tender  affection. 
And  in  the  new  land  he  had  discovered  by  the  side  of  Christ's 
Cross  with  the  banner  of  England  he  planted  the  flag  of  Venice.§7 

*  "Le  venudo  sto  nostro  Venetiano  che  ando  con  uno  navilio  de  Bristo  a 
trovar  Ixole  nove.  .  .  .et  e  stato  mexi  tre  sul  viazo."   See  App.  xi. 
+  See  App.  x. 

X  "Li  compagni  chi  sono  quasi  tutti  In^lesi  e  da  Bristo."  See  App.  xiii. 
§  "  Sto  inventor  di  queste  cose  &  irapiantato  suli  terreni  a  trovato  una  gran 


HIS    LIBERALITY.  69 

Pasqualigo  goes  on  to  relate  that  returning  to  the  ship 
they  sailed  for  300  leagues  along  the  coast,  but  saw  no  person 
whatever.  They  found,  however,  some  springes  set  to  catch 
game,  and  a  needle  for  making  fishing  nets,  which  they  kept  to 
carry  to  the  king.  They  also  saw  some  trees  cut,  so  that  they 
were  sure  that  the  country  was  inhabited.  *  That  they  saw  no 
living  soul  is  easily  explained  by  the  fear  of  the  inhabitants, 
if  we  remember  how  in  the  case  of  Christopher  Columbus  the 
natives  fled  and  hid  themselves  on  the  first  appearance  of  his 
ships. 

For  the  present  they  deemed  they  had  done  enough,  and 
returned  to  England.  On  their  way  they  discovered  two  isl- 
ands, but  passed  on  without  landing  at  them,  because  they 
were  short  of  provisions. f  From  Pasqualigo's  words  it  seems 
clear  that  the  land  was  very  poor  and  the  climate  not  happy, 
and  his  words  agree  with  what  Sebastian  Cabot  afterwards 
said  in  the  brief  description  appended  to  his  Map  of  1544 
where  he  calls  it  a  sterile  and  uncultivated  land  abound- 
ing only  in  wild  animals.:):  Soncino  calls  it  "an  excellent  and 
temperate  land  :"§  but  on  this  point  Soncino's  testimony  is 
open  to  suspicion.  He  was  tired  of  staying  in  England,  and 
sighed  for  a  fat  benefice  in  Lombardy  :  and  intending  to 
speak  to  good  purpose  he  writes  to  his  master  that  many 
friars  will  go  back  with  Cabot  to  the  New  Land,  where  they 
are  promised  bishoprics,  and  if  he  would  go  too  he  could 
have  an  archbishopric,  but  prefers  to  remain  in  His  High- 
ness's  service  and  wait  for  the  favors  he  could  not  fail  to  receive 
from  the  Duke.  II  Now  he  would  not  be  inclined  to  belittle  the 


Croxe  con  ijna  bandiera  de  Inghilterra  e  una  di  San  Marcho  per  esser  lui  Vene- 
tiano."  Pasqualigo,  App  xi. 

*"....  e  andato  perlacosta  lige  300,  e  e  desmontato,  e  non  a  visto  persona 
alguna,  ma  a  portato  qui  al  Re  certi  lazi  die  era  tesi  per  prendere  salvadexine, 
e  uno  ago  da  far  rede,  e  a  trovato  certi  albori  tagliati,  si  che  per  questo  iudicha 
cbe  xe  persone  .  .  .  .  "  Pasqualigo,  See  App.  xi."— et  preso  certi  segnali,  sene 
ritornato."  Soncino,  App.  xiii. 

f  "  .  .  .  .  al  tornar  aldreto  a  visto  do  ixole,  ma  non  ha  voluto  dessender  per 
non  perder  tempo,  che  la  vituaria  li  maneava."    Pasqualigo,  App.  xi. 

X  See  App.  iii.  §  See  App.  xiii. 

I  "Credo  ancora  andarano  cum  questo  passaggio  alcuu  poveri  frati  italiani 


70  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

refusal  of  the  archbishopric  by  vilifying  the  land  where  it  was 
offered  him.  Still  those  words  are  all  the  praise  he  bestows 
on  the  land,  and  these  lose  much  of  their  force  by  his  adding 
that  the  discoverers  had  brought  back  "some  tokens,"  as  a 
sample  of  the  place,  for  if  the  land  had  been  so  excellent  and 
temperate  they  would,  as  was  the  case  with  Columbus,  have 
brought  something  deserving  more  special  and  honorable 
mention  than  to  be  called  "some  tokens." 
^  John  Cabot's  return  seems  to  have  wonderfully  stirred  and 
warmed  up  the  cold  nature  of  the  English.  He  returned  with 
the  announcement  that  he  had  landed  in  the  Grand  Khan's 
empire  and  was  naturally  believed  by  everybody.^ 

This  announcement  meant  that  he  had  opened  the  treas- 
ures of  all  wealth  to  their  ships  and  commerce.  "These  Eng- 
lish," writes  Pasqualigo,  "follow  him  like  idiots,  "f 

They  called  him  "High  Admiral,"  the  king  promised 
him  a  fleet  for  a  new  expedition  in  the  fine  season,  and  the 
principal  merchants  of  Bristol  vied  to  take  part  in  it.  J 

These  honors  seem  to  have  gone  a  little  to  his  head,  for 
he  put  on  showy  garments  of  silk  ;  and  in  his  confidence  that 
he  had  discovered  extensive  regions  and  great  numbers  of 
people,  he  invited  his  companions  and  friends  to  share  in  his 
fortune,  bestowing  islands  and  lands  on  some,  and  bishoprics 
on  others.      Those  selected  for  his  generosity  rejoiced  in  the 


li  quali  hanno  tutti  promissione  de'  Vescovati,  E  per  esser  io  fatto  amico  de 
Larinirante,  quando  volessi  andarvi,  haverei  uno  Arcivescovato,  ma  ho  pen- 
sato  chel  sia  piCi  sicura  cosa  li  beneficii  quali  V.  E.  me  ha  reservati."  See  App. 


xm 


*  Soncino  :  "  Sua  Maesta  ha  guadagnato  una  parte  de  Asia  senza  colpo  de 
spada."  App.  xiii. 

Pasqualigo  :  "Dice  aver  trovato  lige  700  lontam  de  qui  Teraferma,  ze  el 
paexe  del  gran  Cam."  App.  xi. 

t  "  Chiamasi  el  gran  Armirante  e  vienli  fato  grande  honor,  e  va  vestito  de 
seda,  e  sti  Inglexi  li  vano  driedi  a  mo  pazi,  e  pur  ne  volese  tanti  quanti  nav- 
rebbe  con  lui !"  Pasqualigo,  App.  xi. 

%  "El  re  li  ha  promesso  a  tempo  novo  navili  X  armati  come  lui  vora."  Pas- 
qualigo, App.  ib. 

"  Et  a  tempo  novo  se  dice  che  la  Maesta  prefata  armar&  alcum  navilii.  .  . .  . 
Et  li  principal  dell'  impresa  sono  de  Bristo,  grandi  marinari.  .  "  Soncino, 
App.  xiii. 


HIS  LIBERALITY. 


71 


greatness  of  their  future  honor,  and  he  in  their  midst  es- 
teemed himself  a  Prince.* 

Still  in  this  cheap  vanity  there  is  a  good  and  beautiful 
side  ;  it  is  to  see  that  his  heart  was  not  shut  up  with  pride  in 
the  sentiment  of  his  grandeur,  but  gladly  opened  to  share  his 
happiness  with  others.  I  ( 

One  proof  of  what  the  new  regions  would  produce  was  the 
discovery  that  the  sea  was  extraordinarily  rich  in  fish  ;  a  dis- 
covery which  we  might  be  almost  indifferent  to  in  the  XIX 
century,  but  at  the  time  of  Cabot  was  joyful  news  for  Eng- 
land, because  a  certain  source  of  great  wealth  for  the  nation. 
In  those  days  every  Christian  people  scrupulously  observed  the 
requirements  of  the  church  ;  and  in  the  strict  observance  by 
everybody  of  lent  and  the  vigils,  fish  had  become  a  commod- 
ity of  prime  necessity  for  all  Christians.  Iceland  lived  off 
their  commerce,  Norway  and  the  Baltic  shores  saw  no  ships 
but  those  engaged  in  taking  or  conveying  fish.  It  is  easy, 
then,  to  understand  how  pleasant  to  English  ears  was  the 
story  of  the  discoverers,  "that  the  sea  was  full  of  fish  which 
were  caught  not  only  with  nets,  but  also  with  bags,  a  stone  be- 
ing tied  to  the  bag  to  sink  it,"  that  they  would  bring  from  there 
such  quantities  of  fish  that  they  should  no  longer  depend  on 
Iceland,  from  which  they  received  a  very  great  trade  of  fish 
which  were  called  stock  fish.f 

But  whilst  others  from  that  first  sign  of  wealth  drew 
reason  for  unboundedly  expanding  their  hopes  in  the  treas- 
ures of  those  regions,  John  Cabot  from  the  triumph  won  drew 
strength  for  new  conflicts,  desire  for  greater  glory. 
V  He  had  composed  a  Map  of  the  world  on  a  plane,  and  an- 
other on  a  globe,  and  on  these  he  showed  where  he  had 
arrived,  or  rather  where  he  believed  he  had  arrived.  "  From 
that    place,"    writes    Soncino,    "he  proposed    to    pass  close 


*  "Ho  ancora  parlato  cum  uno  Borgognone  compagno  di  mess.  Zoanne  chi 
afferma  tutto,  et  vole  tornarci  perche  lo  armirante  (che  gi&  messer  Zoanne  cosi 
se  intitula)  li  ha  donato  unalsola  ;  et  ne  ha  donato  una  altra  ad  un  suo  barbero 
da  castione  Genovese,  et  intrambi  se  reputanno  Conti,  ne  monsignor  Larmirante 
se  stimaraanco  de  principe."  Soncino,  App.  xiii. 
t  f  Soncino,  App.  xiii. 


72  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

to  land,  further  towards  the  east,  till  he  comes  opposite  to 
an  island  which  he  calls  Cipango,  situated  m  the  equatorial 
regions,  where  he  believes  all  the  spices  grow,  and  also  the 
jewels,  and  he  says  that  at  other  times  he  has  been  at  Mecca 
where  the  spices  are  brought  by  caravans  from  distant  coun- 
tries, and  when  he  asked  those  that  brought  them  where  they 
grew,  they  said  they  did  not  know,  but  that  other  caravans  came 
to  their  country  with  this  merchandise  from  distant  lands,  and 
they  said  they  were  brought  to  them  from  other  regions  remoter 
still.  And  he  argues  that  if  the  orientals  tell  the  southerners 
that  these  things  are  brought  to  them  from  afar  and  so  on 
from  land  to  land,  it  is  necessary,  supposing  the  earth  to  be 
round,  that  the  last  should  get  them  from  the  north  towards 
the  west."*  This  brief  passage  is  all  we  know  of  the  reasoning 
of  John  Cabot  on  his  voyages  and  explorations  ;  and  I  give  it 
in  Soncino's  own  words,  because,  as  he  received  the  informa- 
tion from  Cabot's  own  lips,  they  seem  to  me  in  their  antiq- 
uity like  an  echo  of  the  glorious  Venetian's  voiced 

Whoever  knows  the  story  of  Christopher  Columbus  is  awrare 
that  Cipango  was  the  dream  and  the  sigh  of  the  first  discov- 
erers who  reached  the  New  World,  that  noblest  of  islands,  of 
which  it  was  reported  that  it  "abounds  with  gold,  pearls,  and 
gems,  and  the  temples  and  royal  dwellings  are  roofed  with 
plates  of  gold. "f 

I  conclude  this  chapter  with  the  record  of  the  munificence 
of  Henry  VII  towards  John  Cabot,  who  by  his  discovery  had 
opened  to  the  Kingdom  of  England  a  future  resplendent 
with  the  brightest  hopes  of  power  and  wealth. vl  To  this  man 
the  King  of  England  sent  a  present  of  ten  pounds  sterling.  J 
Peschel  tries  to  defend  the  memory  of  that  King  by  sup- 
posing that  the  present  was  not  for  the  discoverer,  but  for  the 
one  who  first  saw  the  land.§  But  this  kind  supposition  is 
opposed  by  the  fact  that  in  the  same  book  are  entered  other 


*  App.  xiii. 

f  From  the  Letter  of  Paul  Toscanelli  to  Canon  Fernando  Martinez.  See  Tar- 
ducci's  Life  of  Columbus,  Vol.  i.  p.  58. 
%  "To  liym  that  foundethe  new  Isle.  1.  10."  See  App.  x. 
§  Zeitalter,  p.  276. 


THE  PATENT  OF  1498.  .,     73 

presents  from  the  same  King  to  those  who  sailed  to  places 
already  discovered  by  Cabot,  or  who  discovered  some  island 
in  the  same  latitudes,  and  the  name  of  Cabot  is  nowhere  found 
in  it.  And  it  does  not  seem  supposable  that  the  King  who 
recognized  in  some  fashion  the  work  of  others  should  have 
kept  a  close  hand  with  him  who  opened  the  path  for  them 
all. 

But,  whether  because  he  was  poor  enough  to  be  glad  of  any 
offering,  or  rather  because  he  prudently  wished  to  retain  the 
King's  good  will,  John  Cabot  in  his  speech  magnified  the 
English  Sovereign's  generosity  and  regard  for  him.  * 


CHAPTER  VI. 


The  Second  Letters  Patent. — Preparations  for  the  expedition  of 
1498.— John  Cabot's  Death. 

A  great  surprise  now  awaits  us.  The  letters  patent  of 
March  5,  1496,  contained  many  extensive  rights  and  privi- 
leges not  only  in  favor  of  John  Cabot,  but  of  each  of  his  sons 
and  their  descendants  and  heirs,  with  full  power  to  delegate 
their  authority  to  representatives  without  any  limitation  of 
time  or  place.  But  now,  on  February  3,  1498,  new  letters 
patent  are  issued  granting  all  necessary  authority  to 
seize  in  the  ports  of  England  from  the  ships  that  happened  to 
be  there,  the  number  required  for  the  expedition  ;  but  they 
are  addressed  to  JohA.  The  King  calls  him  his  "well  beloved," 
mentions  the  discovery  he  had  made,  leaves  him  free  to  choose 
his  ships  and  crew,  all  the  officers  of  the  government  owe  as- 
sistance to  John,  John  can  delegate  his  authority  to  others, 

*  "  El  re.  .  .  ali  dato  danari."  Pasqualigo,  App.  xi. 

"Questa  Maesta.  .  .li  da  assai  bona  provisione  come  esso  messer  Zoanne  me 
dice."  .  .  .  Soncino,  App.  xiii. 


74  THE  LIFE  OE  JOHN  CABOT. 

John  is  the  head  of  the  new  expedition.  Not  the  slightest 
mention  is  made  of  the  sons,  not  the  least  allusion  to  the  pre- 
vious patent,  not  a  syllable  that  can  be  construed  as  confir- 
mation or  revocation,  of  the  privileges  granted.*  What  is 
the  meaning  of  this  ? 

We  are  wholly  in  the  dark. 

The  number  of  ships  for  the  new  expedition  was  fixed  at  six 
of  200  tuns  burden  and  under,  and  could  be  taken  in 
any  port  of  England  as  well  as  of  all  other  places  subject  to 
the  English  Grown  ;  and  the  sums  to  be  paid  for  them  were 
to  be  regulated  by  what  the  government  would  pay  if  it  took 
them  for  its  own  service  on  its  own  account,  f  On  this  occa- 
sion no  time  seems  to  have  been  lost,  but  they  went  to  work 
immediately  upon  the  issuing  of  the  letters  patent  authoriz- 
ing the  taking  of  the  ships,  with  much  energy  ;  since  it  appears 
from  some  contributions  made  from  the  King's  privy  purse, 
of  which  we  shall  speak  in  the  next  chapter,  that  in  the  fol- 
lowing March  the  preparations  for  the  expedition  were  in  full 
activity. 

Pasqualigo  and  Soncino,  in  their  letters  of  the  previous 
year,  both  tell  us  that  all  prisoners  except  those  for  treason 
went  to  people  the  new  lands,  and  this  was  proposed,  accord- 
ing to  Pasqualigo's  words,  by  Cabot  himself.^  But  the  letters 
patent  of  February  3,  make  no  mention  of  this  forced  colon- 
ization ;  on  the  contrary  they  say  expressly  that''  the  seid  John 

maye  take  and  receyve  into  the  seid  shippes ...  all  suche 

maisters,  maryners,  pages,  and  our  subjects  as  of  their  owTen 
free  wills  woll  goo  and  pass  with  hym  ....  to  the  seid  Land  or 
lies.  "  §  But  probably  it  should  be  understood  as  meaning 
that  their  free  will  was  reserved  for  free  citizens,  while  the 
malefactors  in  the  public  prisons  were  sent  by  force. 

From  the  time  of  the  grant  of  the  second  patent,  the  name  of 


*  See  App.  xiv.  f  Ibid 

X  Pasqualigo— "El  re. .  .  .ali  dato  tutti  i  presonieri  da  traditori  in  f  uora  che 
yadano  con  lui  come  lui  a  ricuiesto  .  .  .  ."App.  xi. 

Soncino — "la  Maesta  prefata.  .  .et  ultra  li  dani  tutti  li  malfatori,  et  andarano 
in  quello  paese  ad  fare  una  colonia  .  .  ."App.  xiii. 

§  See  App.  xiv. 


THE  PATENT  OF  1498.  75 

John  Cabot  completely  disappears  :  and  the  few  notices  which 
remain  of  the  navigations  of  1498  prepared  by  him,  all  present 
his  son  Sebastian  as  its  head.  From  this  all  the  historians  have 
inferred  that  he  was  hindered  from  taking  command  of  that 
expedition,  or  more  probably  died  soon  after  the  granting  of  the 
patent  Against  this  general  opinion  Desimoni  has  opposed 
the  examination  of  Ayala's  dispatch,  the  most  extended 
and  detailed  document  concerning  this  expedition  which  has 
come  down  to  us,  and  which  gives  clearly  the  command  of  the 
expedition  to  the  same  person  who  proposed  and  organized  it* 
In  fact  it  begins  by  referring  to  the  Genoese  discoverer  who  for 
seven  years  has  been  going  in  search  of  the  island  of  Brazil 
and  the  seven  cities;  it  goes  on  to  say  that  the  King  has  de- 
termined to  make  the  expedition,  having  had  certain  news 
that  the  Genoese  had  really  found  land  the  year  before.  It 
continues  by  relating  how  the  expedition  was  struck  by  a 
furious  storm  and  one  of  the  ships  turned  back,  but  neverthe- 
less, the  Genoese  kept  on  his  voyage,  and  that  the  return  of  the 
expedition  was  looked  for  in  September. f  Here  it  is  undeniable 
that  the  command  of  the  expedition  was  assumed  by  the  same 
person  who  had  discovered  land  the  year  before,  and  had  sailed 
over  the  northern  seas  for  the  last  seven  years  in  search  of  new 
islands  and  lands  :  consequently  by  John  Cabot.  But  as  after 
the  return  of  the  expedition  there  is  no  mention  of  John  Cabot, 
but  only  of  Sebastian,  as  its  head,  we  must  suppose,  accord- 
ing to  Desimoni,  that  John  perished  during  the  expedition, 
not  before.  The  reasoning  of  Desimoni  is  clear  and  convinc- 
ing, and  therefore  it  seems  to  me  that  we  must  accept  his 
supposition  and  place  John  Cabot's  death  during  the  expedi- 
tion on  the  new  battle-field  where  he  was  fighting  to  enlarge 
and  increase  the  fruits  of  his  victory. 

The  fame  of  John  Cabot  is  almost  lost  to  the  memory 
of  posterity,  and  it  is  only  a  few  years  since  that  the  attention 
of  students  has  been  again  directed  to  him  with  interest  and 
affection.   But  it  may  be  said  that  each  of  those  years  has 


*  Intorno  a  Giovanni  Caboto  Genovese,  etc.— Genova,  Tipografia  del  R.  Isti- 
tuto  dei  Sordomuti,  1881— p.  53. 
t  See  App.xvi. 


76  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  CABOT. 

shed  additional  splendor  on  his  name  and  merits.  He  suf- 
fered from  what  makes  a  father's  greatest  happiness,  the 
glory  of  his  son,  Sebastian  Cabot,  who  was  greatest  among  the 
great,  lived  to  the  ripest  old  age,  held  in  two  nations  the 
highest  position  in  the  marine,  drew  the  most  lively  attention 
of  mankind  to  his  name  and  his  work  :  so  that  the  figure  of 
the  father  was  lost  sight  of.  And  as  the  son  not  only  con- 
tinued the  father's  work,  but  was  his  companion  and  co-op- 
erator, mankind  deceived  by  the  splendor  that  radiates  from 
the  name  of  Sebastian  attributed  to  him  likewise  what  was 
the  work  of  his  father.  Two  writers  principally  have  con- 
tributed to  this  mistake,  Peter  Martyr  D'  Anghiera  and  Giam- 
battista  Ramusio,  who  without  the  least  mention  of  John  as- 
cribe everything  to  Sebastian  ;  and  as  their  writings  had  a 
very  extreme  circulation,  the  error  was  spread  by  them  and 
became  general,  not  even  the  truthful  testimony  of  Hakluyt 
being  able  to  counteract  the  trumpet  of  the  others,  buried  as 
it  was  in  the  collection  of  his  big  volumes,  hardly  known  by 
name,  still  less  read,  out  of  England.  But  still  in  the 
splendor  of  the  picture  where  the  great  figure  of  Sebastian 
shone  all  alone,  it  was  never  possible  to  efface  entirely  that  of 
John.  It  appeared  always  low  down  in  the  background, 
hardly  distinguishable  in  the  shade,  but  still  ever  visible,  and 
from  there  it  seemed  to  say  :  "And  I  then  ?" 

The  American,  Richard  Biddle,  the  first  to  give  to  history 
a  profoundly  thought-out  book  on  Sebastian  Cabot,  wished 
to  blot  out  completely  the  rest  of  that  figure  which  ap- 
peared in  the  background  of  the  picture,  and  concentrates  the 
spectator's  whole  attention  on  the  figure  of  Sebastian,  spark- 
ling in  the  richness  of  the  coloring  and  drawing.  But  his  ef- 
forts were  idle,  for  the  more  he  labored  to  persuade  the  be- 
holder that  the  figure  of  Sebastian  rose  all  alone  by  itself  and 
had  no  support  from  another  figure,  no  relation  with  it,  the 
more  the  eye  felt  drawn  to  the  mysterious  figure  there  in  the 
background  of  the  picture,  and  to  the  ear  came  more  sensibly 
distinct  his  question  :     "And  I  then  ?" 

In  these  last  years  the  truth  has  finally  triumphed,  and 
the  documents  discovered,  though  few  in  number  yet  suf- 


THE  HONOR  DUE  TO  JOHN  CABOT.  7  7 

ficient  for  the  purpose,  have  restored  to  John  the  light  that 
was  due  him,  and  drawn  his  figure  out  of  the  shade  and 
placed  it  in  full  view.  If  the  love  of  my  subject  does  not 
veil  my  judgment,  it  seems  to  me  that  one  of  the  very  first 
places  in  the  history  of  discoveries  belongs  to  John  Cabot. 
For  without  any  impulse  or  guidance  from  others,  by  the 
mere  force  of  his  will  and  strength  of  his  enthusiasm,  he 
raised  himself  above  the  common  herd  of  navigators  for  com- 
merce and  wealth,  and  launched  out  into  the  fearful  soli- 
tudes of  northern  oceans,  panting  after  discovery  ;  and  the 
failure  of  a  first,  a  second,  a  third  attempt  does  not  lessen  his 
ardor  or  weaken  his  resolve  *  he  returns  to  the  attack  .  .  . 
and  he  wins.  True,  he  has  his  son  Sebastian  for  a  companion 
in  his  victory,  but  the  son  was  not  yet  twenty  years  old,  and 
at  that  age,  however  great  his  genius  and  his  skill  in  the 
sciences  relating  to  navigation,  he  could  give  but  little  aid  to 
his  father's  vigorous  strength.  And  if  the  work  of  the 
younger  in  later  voyages  was  very  efficient,  it  is  still  John 
that  led  the  victorious  band  ;  to  him  alone  is  the  discovery 
of  1497  ascribed  in  public  and  private  documents,  and  it  is 
his  name  alone  that  resounds  in  the  shouts  and  huzzas  of  the 
English  nation.  If  the  expedition  of  1498  wTas  led  by  the 
son,  it  was  still  unquestionably  prepared,  set  forward,  and 
for  a  time  conducted  by  the  father.  Not  then  in  the  second 
rank,  still  less  lower,  is  the  place  that  belongs  to  John  Cabot 
in  the  glorious  phalanx  of  discoverers,  but  he  must  be  hailed 
among  the  highest,  very  near  the  supreme  chief  that  led  them 
all,  Christopher  Columbus.  ' 


78  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Sebastian  Cabot. 

To  the  post  of  John  Cabot  in  command  of  the  fleet  succeeded 
his  son  Sebastian.  The  fact  is  unquestioned,  but  nowhere  is 
there  the  least  indication  where  and  how  this  happened.* 
If  the  letters  patent  of  March  5,  1496,  mention  the  sons  of 
John  in  the  order  of  age,  as  is  likely,  Sebastian  would  be  the 
second,  f  There  is  no  trace  anywhere  of  the  other  two  or  of 
their  mother,  who  was  still  living  when  John's  discovery 
created  such  rejoicing  in  England.:): 

From  the  confined  cicle  in  which  we  have  till  now  turned 
so  uncomfortably  we  pass  at  present  into  a  field  of  vast  extent; 
but  the  thick  fog  which  has  all  along  obscured  this  short  path 
we  had  to  follow,  unfortunately  does  not  leave  us,  and  the  little 
light  which  here  and  there  breaks  through,  although  sufficient 
to  show  how  broad  the  field  before  us  and  what  a  giant  was 
laboring  in  it,  is  too  little  to  enable  us  to  see  his  work  and  the 
gratitude  that  posterity  owes  to  his  genius  and  energy. 

We  must  lament  this  want  of  light  at  the  first  step  we  take 
in  this  story  as  in  that  of  his  father  John ;  for  the  same  question 
is  discussed  concerning  him, — whence  came  he?  and  where  was 


*  Gaffarel  says  that :  The  Letters  Patent  provided  for  the  case  of  John's 
death  and  Sebastian's  succession  to  the  command.  'Tar  bonheur  les  lettres 
patentes  avaient  prevu  le  ens,  et  son  fils  Sebastien  en  qunlite  de  representant 
dument  autorise,  put,  malgre  sa  jennesse,  prendre  le  commandement  de  1 
escadre."  Histoire  de  la  decouverte  de  V  Amerique,  Paris,  1892.  T.  ii.  p.  293. 

But  this  is  not  correct:  the  letters  patent  make  no  allusion  to  this  case.     See 

App-  v- 
f  Dilectis  nobis  Joanni  Cabotto  civi  venetiarum  ac  Ludovico,  Sebastiano  et 

Sancto  filiis  dicti  Joannis App.  v. 

%  "...  e  con  so  moier  venitiana  e  con  so  fioli  a  Bristo."  Pasqualigo  App.  xi.  ix. 


BIRTH-PLACE  OF  SEBASTIAN.  79 

he  born?  The  Italians  make  out  that  he  was  born  at  Venice;  the 
English  claim  his  birth  for  Bristol.  In  examining  this  question, 
I  believe  we  should  set  aside  all  writers,  however  celebrated,  of 
later  date  who  hold  to  either  side,  for  the  bundle  of  their 
names  seems  to  me  a  load  encumbering  free  judgment;  and  I 
take  only  old  authors  who  being  either  contemporary  with 
Sebastian,  or  very  nearly  so,  may  furnish  us  authority  of  some 
weight. 

He  is  made  out  to  be  English  by  Richard  Eden,  who  knew 
him  personally,  was  his  friend,  and  was  present  at  his  death- 
bed;* by  the  Epitome  of  Chronicles,  already  mentioned;  and  by 
the  chroniclers  Grafton,  Holinshed,  and  Stow,  who  follow  the 
Epitome  ;f  Hakluyt,  who  published  in  1582  his  collection  of 
the  voyages  and  discoveries  of  the  English  in  America; J  and 
Herrera,  the  historian  of  the  Spanish  achievements  in  the  New 
World,  who  composed  his  history  in  the  last  years  of  the  XVI 
century  and  must  have  conversed  often  and  long  on  the  facts 
with  Sebastian  when  he  was  in  the  Spanish  service.§ 

On  the  other  side,  for  Venice,  are  Peter  Martyr  D' 
Anghiera,  who  published  his  decades  under  Sebastian's  eyes, 
was  his  friend,  and  had  him  as  his  guest  in  his  house  ;|| 
Gaspare  Contarini,  Venetian  ambassador  in  Spain,  who  knew 
him  personally  and  had    conversations    with    him    on    the 

*  His  words  will  be  given  a  little  further  on. 

|  All  have  "an  Englishe  man,  borne  at  Bristo,  but  was  the  sonne  of  a  Geno- 
way.''    See  ch.  i. 

X  "  In  the  time  of  .  .  .  Henry  VII,  Letters  Patent  were  ....  graunted 
to  John  Caboto,  an  Italian  ...  to  discover  remote  .  .  .  country,  which  di- 
scovert was  afterwards  executed  ...  by  Sebastian  and  Sancius  his  son,  who 
were  born  in  England."  Vol.  iii.  p.  16. 

The  name  of  Sancius,  which  Hakluyt  here  joins  with  Sebastian's, is  found  in 
no  document,  so  that  it  must  be  supposed  that  the  name  dropped  from  Hakluyt's 
pen  from  want  of  attention,  or  else  that  Sebastian's  brother  Sancius  was  as- 
sociated with  him  in  the  beginning  and  for  some  reason  or  other  afterwards 
ceased  to  assist  him. 

§  "Este  desseo  .  .      movio  el  Rey  a  traer  a  su  servicio  Sebastian  Gaboto 

Ingles   .    .    .   "  —  Hist.  gen.  de  los  Castellanos "  —  Dec.  i.  lib.  ix. 

Cap.  13. 

||  "  Scrutatus  est  eas  Sebastianus  quidam  Cabotus  genere  Venetus  .  .  .  Fa- 
miliarem  habeo  domi  Cabotum  ipsum  et  contubernalem  interdum ....  "  A  pp. 
xviii. 


80  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

most  subtile  matters.*  Andrea  Navagero  who  succeeded 
Contarini  in  office,  July  21,  1524.  while  Sebastian  Cabot  was 
alive  and  present  ;f  Francisco  Lopez  de  Gomara,  who  pub- 
lished his  general  history  of  the  Indies  in  Spain  hardly  four 
years  after  Sebastian's  departure,  and  whose  rank  and  the 
character  of  whose  studies  allow  us  no  doubt  that  he  knew  and 
conversed  with  one  who  was  the  highest  authority  in  that 
marine,  the  glorious  deeds  of  which  he  was  engaged  in  re- 
lating ;J  finally  Girolamo  Ramusio  and  the  testimony  of 
an  anonymous  writer  who  had  detailed  information  on  his 
life  and  voyages  from  Cabot  himself  and  on  his  authority,  for, 
if  he  was  not  personally  acquainted  with  Sebastian,  he 
nevertheless  had  epistolary  correspondence  with  him  on  the 
subject  of  discoveries. § 

To  these  should  be  added  with  special  notice  Francis  Bacon, 
born  a  little  after  Cabot's  death,  because  his  testimony  ac- 
quires a  special  value  from  the  recognized  weight  of  his 
opinion,  and  because  he  was  himself  an  Englishman.!  Let 
us  now  look  at  these  testimonies  separately  and  weigh  their 
value.  That  of  the  Epitome  of  Chronicles  is  taken  from  the 
place,  already  extracted,  where  speaking  of  Sir  Hugh  Wil- 


*  His  words  will  be  given  with  Eden's  further  on. 

f*«.  .  .  Un'  altra  armata  .  .  .  parlira  .  .  .  della  quale  e  capitano  uu  Se- 
bastian Cabot  to  Venetiano." — App.  xxxii. 

X  "Qui  en  mas  noticia  traxo  desta  tierra  fue  Sebastian  Gaboto  Veneciano."— 
App.  xxi. 

§  Anonimo  :— "Non  sapete  a  questo  proposito  .  .  .  quel  che  fece  gia  un 
vostro  cittadino  Veneziano"  v.  App  xix. 

Ramusio  :  —  "  .  .  .  come  mi  fu  scritto  .  .  .^al  Sig.  Sebastian  Gabotto  no- 
stro  Vinitiano." 

From  the  dedicatory  letter  to  the  celebrated  Fracastoro  prefixed  to  the  third 
volume  of  his  great  collection.  I  omit  from  these  names  that  of  the  Portuguese 
historian  Antonio  Galvao  who  wrote  his  Tratado  a  few  years  after  Sebastian's 
death  (1563),  because  as  personally  a  stranger  to  Sebastian,  in  the  place  where 
he  lived,  he  naturally  could  speak  of  him  only  on  the  credit  of  others.  His 
words  are  : 

"No  anno  de  1496  achandosehum  Venezeano  pernome  Sebastiano  Caboto 
..."  App.  xxii. 

I  "There  was  one  Sebastian  Gaboto,  a  Venetian,  dwelling  in  Bristol,  a  man 
seen  and  expert  in  cosmography  and  navigation."  Franc.  Bacon's  History  of 
King  Henry  VII,  p.  88,  London  1778. 


BIRTPI-PLACE  OF  SEBASTIAN.  81 

loughby's  expedition,  it  is  said  that  it  was  promoted  by  Sebas- 
tian Cabot,  son  of  a  Genoese,  but  born  at  Bristol.  Treating  at 
that  time  of  the  birthplace  of  John  Cabot,  we  made  a  long 
and  careful  examination  of  these  words,  and  we  saw,  and  felt 
with  our  hands  that  they  are  an  interpolation  of  Crowley's 
made  from  caprice  and  without  the  support  of  any  doc- 
ument. Consequently  the  authority  of  the  Epitome  of  Chronicles 
must  be  rejected  now  in  Sebastian's  case  for  the  same  reason 
as  before  in  his  father's.  We  saw  then  also  and  felt  that  the 
chroniclers  Grafton,  Holinshed  and  Stow  had  simply  copied 
the  notice  in  the  Epitome,  and  consequently  the  rejection  of 
the  authority  of  the  Epitome  necessarily  involves  the  rejec- 
tion of  all  based  on  it. 

Hakluyt's  authority  is  great,  and  so  is  that  of  Herrera  ; 
they  both  searched  the  old  records  with  zeal,  conscientiousness, 
and  judgment  ;  the  one  to  reproduce  them  as  they  were,  the 
other  to  compose  from  them  his  history.  But  precisely  be- 
cause, being  some  years  subsequent  to  Cabot's  death,  they  had 
to  rely  for  their  assertions  on  those  old  records,  all  the  value 
of  their  authority  rests  on  these.  And  as  there  are  only  the 
authors  cited  above  that  make  Sebastian  Cabot  born  at  Bristol; 
excluding  the  chroniclers  and  Stow,  the  whole  weight  of  the 
assertion  is  left  to  rest  on  Richard  Eden's  word. 

The  witnesses  testifying  in  favor  of  Venice  are  all  contem- 
poraries and  personal  acquaintances,  or  at  least  correspondents 
of  Sebastian  Cabot.  Yet,  to  be  more  scrupulously  exact,  let 
us  exclude  from  these  also  all  who  are  unable  to  give  us  a 
solid  basis  for  their  authority.  Let  us  leave  out  Andrea  Na- 
vagero,  although  as  Venetian  ambassador  to  Spain  when 
Sebastian  Cabot  was  chief  pilot  of  that  Kingdom,  everything 
leads  us  to  believe  that  he  must  have  had  occasion  to  talk 
with  him,  at  court  or  elsewhere  ;  but,  as  we  have  no  sure  evi- 
dence of  their  having  met,  let  us  exclude  him. 

Let  us  leave  out  Girolamo  Ramusio,  because,  although  he 
was  in  epistolary  correspondence  with  Sebastian  Cabot,  the 
great  distance  which  parted  them  may  lead  us  reasonably  to 
suspect  that  his  knowledge  of  Cabot's  life  did  not  extend  be- 
yond his  great  achievements  of  voyage  and  discovery.       The 


82  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

anonymous  writer,  whose  account  he  reports,  might  be  valid 
authority,  because  he  visited  Cabot,  talked  with  him,  ques- 
tioned him  about  his  voyages,  and  since  they  were  both  Vene- 
tians, it  seems  more  than  likely  that  their  conversation  must 
have  brought  up  the  subject  of  his  native  country.  But  as  we 
cannot  be  sure  of  it,  but  only  argue  from  probability,  let  us 
put  him  also  aside. 

Gomara  wrote  a  general  history  of  the  Indies,  and  the  sub- 
ject led  him  to  speak  very  often  of  Spanish  navigations  ;  and 
in  such  position  it  seems  not  only  unlikely,  but  impossible  that 
he  should  have  had  no  relations  with  Sebastian  Cabot,  who 
held  the  first  place  in  the  Spanish  Marine.  Still  his  relations 
with  him  might  very  well  have  been  confined  to  the  matter  of 
which  he  was  treating  in  his  history,  without  going  into  de- 
tails of  the  Chief  Pilot's  life  :  let  us  therefore,  put  him  too 
aside.  In  this  way  we  narrow  the  whole  dispute  to  Peter  Mar- 
tyr and  Contarini  for   Venice,  and  Richard  Eden  for  Bristol. 

Eden,  in  the  margin  of  his  translation  of  the  Decades  of 
Peter  Martyr  de  Anghiera,  writes  these  wTords  :  "Sebastian 
Cabote  tould  me  that  he  was  borne  in  Brystowe,  and  that 
at  iiii  yeare  ould  he  was  carried  with  his  father  to  Venice,  and 
so  returned  agayne  into  England  with  his  father  after  cer- 
tayne  years,  whereby  he  was  thought  to  have  been  borne  in 
Venice."* 

This  evidence  is  positive,  and  seems  as  if  it  ought  to  put  an 
end  to  the  dispute.  But,  lo  !  the  Venetian  ambassador  Gaspare 
Contarini  in  a  letter  to  the  council  of  Ten  written  just  after  a 
conversation  he  had  with  Sebastian,  writes  that  Sebastian  him- 
self said  to  him  :  "  Sir  Ambassador,  to  tell  you  the  whole,  I 
wras  born  in  Venice,  but  brought  up  in  England. "f 

Which  of  the  two  are  we  to  credit  ?  which  of  the  two  was 
mistaken  ?  Certainly  Contarini  was  not  mistaken,  for  he 
wrote  right  after  his  conversation  with  Sebastian,  and  the 
whole  purport  of  the  letter  he  is  writing  to  the  council  of 


*  The  Decades  of  the  New  Worlde,  London  1555  f .  255. 
f  Signor  ambasciatore,  per  dirle  il  tuto,  io  naqui  a  Vuuetia,  ma  sura  nutrito 
en  Ingelterra.  See  App.  xxvi. 


83 

Ten  has  for  its  starting-point  the  fact  that  Sebastian  Cabot 
was  born  at  Venice.  Perhaps  some  one  may  object  that  Sebas- 
tian Cabot  at  that  time  had  great  need  of  the  Venetian  Re- 
public, as  we  shall  see  further  on  ;  and  therefore  it  is  not  out 
of  place  to  suspect  that  he  was  carried  so  far  by  the  necessity 
of  the  case  as  to  say  what  was  not  true.  But  this  objection 
is  soon  dispelled.  The  same  assertion  which  Cabot  made  to 
the  ambassador  Contarini  in  Spain,  he  had  previously  made 
at  Venice  itself  through  one  whom  he  sent  to  the  council  of 
Ten.*  Can  it  be  supposed  that  a  man  arrived  at  the  very 
high  rank  which  Cabot  had  attained  to,  earnest,  serious, 
considerate  in  every  thing  as  he  was,  would  hazard  so  explicit 
and  absolute  a  declaration  "I  was  born  at  Venice,"  with- 
out being  certain  of  the  fact,  without  being  able  to  prove 
clearly  and  unquestionably,  if  need  were,  the  truth  of  what  he 
was  saying,  considering  that  the  application  he  was  making 
to  the  Venetian  Senate  was  entirely  founded  on  the  fact  that 
he  had  been  born  at  Venice  ?  But  let  us  for  a  moment  accept 
this  supposition  and  set  aside  even  his  own  testimony  as 
being  suspicious.  No  sort  of  suspicion  can  attach  to  the 
historian  Peter  Martyr  d'  Anghiera,  who  not  only  says 
that  Sebastian  was  born  in  Venice,  but  that  he  was  taken 
from  there,  and  tells  us  why.  And  he  could  not  have  got 
this  information  from  Contarini,  for  the  Decade  where  he 
speaks  of  it  was  published  seven  years  before  the  conversation 
between  Contarini  and  Cabot  took  place,  f  His  evidence  is  the 
same  as  though  it  came  directly  from  the  lips  of  Sebastian 
himself,  for  Peter  Martyr  was  his  friend,  his  companion 
at  court,  had  him  as  a  guest  in  his  house,  and  published  this 
Decade  of  his  precisely  during  the  period  of  that  hospitality; 
indeed,  in  his  account  he  joins  the  information  concern- 
ing Cabot  with  the  fact  that  he  has  Cabot  a  guest  in  his 


*  "  Disse  essev  sta  mandato  per  uno  Sebastian  Cabotto,  che  dice  esser  di 
questa  citta  nostra  ..."  Letter  of  the  council  of  Ten,  September  22,  1522. 
App.  xxv. 

t  The  Decade  was  published  in  1516,  and  the  conversation  with  Contarini 
occurred  towards  the  end  of  1523. 


84 


THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 


house.*  Thus  it  is  clear,  natural,  undoubtable  that  he  had  his 
information  from  Sebastian's  own  mouth  ;  for  it  cannot 
be  supposed  that  with  such  opportunity  as  he  had  of  learning 
the  truth  from  the  very  lips  of  one  who  was  at  his  side,  at  his 
table,  at  his  conversation,  he,  an  historian,  would  fail  to 
question  him  and  learn  the  truth  from  him.  Sebastian  at  that 
time  had  no  need  of  Venice,  which  might  cast  suspicion  on  his 
word,  but  was  on  the  point  of  hastening  to  a  fresh  triumph  of 
his  navigations  with  the  money  and  aid  of  Spain,  f  and  An- 
ghiera  was  writing  the  story  of  Spanish  discovery.  There  was 
therefore  no  reason,  direct  or  indirect,  for  Cabot  untruthfully 
to  place  his  birth  in  Venice. 

Therefore  his  repeated  declaration  at  different  times,  to 
different  persons,  under  different  circumstances,  with  many 
years  interval  between  them,  must  be  held  conformed  in 
every  thing  and  throughout  to  the  truth. 

But  then  did  Eden  lie  ?  Avezac  has  shown  by  many  proofs 
that  Eden  with  great  dexterity  makes  history  say  whatever  he 
thinks  or  chooses  it  should  say,  and  if  he  showed  no  scruple  in 
this  freedom,  there  was  still  less  good  critical  sense.  Translat- 
ing for  example,  the  first  three  Decades  of  Peter  Martyr  d' 
Anghiera,  he  came  to  a  place  where  the  historian  calls  Sebas- 
tain  Cabot  "his  concurialis,"  which  means  "who  is  with  me 
here  at  the  court:"  Eden,  knowing  that  Peter  Martyr  was  a 
member  of  the  Supreme  Council  of  the  Indies,  translated  it 
that  Cabot  was  also  a  member  of  that  high  board,  whereas 
we  have  in  Herrera  the  list  of  all  the  members  of  that  council, 
and  Sebastian  Cabot's  name  is  not  among  them.J  But  this 
might  have  been  an  oversight  in  translating  :  it  is  real 
audacity  for  him  to  give  the  name  and  surname  of  the  anony- 
mous writer  in  Ramusio.    Ramusio  (and  we  shall  speak  of  it 


*  "Familiarem  habeo  domi  Cabotum  ipsum  et  contubernalem  interdum 

concurialis   noster   est,   expectatque   in    dies   lit  navigia   sibi   parentur 

Martio  menseanni  futuri  MDXVI  puto  ad  explorandum  discessunim."  See 
App.  xviii. 

f  See  preceding  note. 

%  Revue  Critique  cV  Histoire  et  de  Litterature.  Premier  Semestre,  1870.  pp. 
265—266. 


85 

at  greater  length  further  on)  places  in  his  collection  "  a  great 
and  admirable  discourse  ....  of  a  gentleman,  a  very  great 
philosopher  and  mathematican  ....  whose  name  out  of  respect 
is  not  given  . .  "*Eden  translated  this  discourse  and  coming  to 
this  passage,  instead  of  respecting  the  author's  secret,  thought 
it  best  to  satisfy  the  reader's  curiosity  by  revealing  the  name, 
surname,  and  country  of  the  anonymous  narrator,  and  made 
it  known  that  he  was  the  Bolognese  Galeazzo  Bottrigari,  Pope's 
nuncio  in  Spain.  Where  did  he  get  this  information  ?  He 
does  not  say.  On  what  proof  is  it  based  ?  He  does  not  tell. 
But  the  beauty  of  it  is  that  when  the  anonymous  speaker 
made  the  discourse  Bottrigari  had  been  sleeping  for  thirty 
years  in  his  grave,  f 

After  that,  what  reliance  can  be  had  on  the  word  of  one 
who  so  easily  makes  assertions  openly  contradicting  the  truth  ? 

However,  there  is  a  way  of  explaining  the  opposing 
testimony  of  Eden  without  offence  to  his  memory,  by  sup- 
posing him  to  have  been  the  victim  of  a  misunderstanding. 
Even  Avezac,  for  a  moment,  advances  this  supposition.  I 
say  "  for  a  moment,  "  because  he  hardly  hints  a  suspicion  of 
this  misunderstanding,  before  he  repeats  more  vehemently 
than  before  his  charge  of  falsehood  against  Eden.  $  We  may 
then  suppose  that  Eden  had  the  correct  information  from 
Cabot  as  to  his  native  land,  as  it  had  already  been  given  to 
Peter  Martyr  and  Contarini  ;  but  from  lack  of  attention  or 
other  cause  he  misunderstood  his  words  and  gave  them  a 


*  "Un  grande  et  ammirabile  ragiouamento  .  .  .  .  di  un  gentil'  huomo, 
grandissimo  philosopho  et  mathematico,  .  .  .  il  nome  del  quale  per  suoi 
rispetti  non  si  dice.  .  .  "  See  App.  xix. 

f  Galeazzo  Bottrigari,  Papal  Nuncio  to  Ferdinand,  King  of  Spain,  died  in 
Bologna,  his  native  country,  in  1518,  and  was  buried  in  a  sarcophagus  in  the 
church  of  St.  Francis.  Afterwards  the  sarcophagus  was  transferred  to  the 
Carthusian  cemetery  where  it  is  still  to  be  seen. 

t"  Nous  croyons  raisonnable  de  soupconner  un  qui  pro  quo  dans  l'esprit 
aventureux  du  compilateur,  &  qui  probableraent  Cabot  avait  dit  en  realite, 
comnie  a  tous  les  autres,  qu'il  etait  ne  &  Venise,  et  avait  6te,  d6s  son  jeune 
age(quattre  aus  expressementcettefois),  ainene  a  Bristol  parson  p£re" — a  little 
after  he  gives  Eden  a  worse  dose,  and  says  "il  n'y  aura  qu'nne  falsification 
fantaisiste  de  plus  a  porter  au  compte  de  Richard  Eden,  coutumier  du  fait.'' 
p.  266-267. 


86  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

meaning  quite  opposite  to  the  true.  Let  us  compare  the 
words  of  Eden  with  those  of  Peter  Martyr  and  we  shall  see 
that  this  supposition  is  well  founded.  Peter  Martyr  says  : 
"Sebastian  Cabot  was  by  birth  a  Venetian  but  taken  by  his 
parents  to  England  whilst  almost  an  infant."*  And  Eden  : 
"  Sebastian  Cabot  was  born  at  Bristol,  but  at  the  age  of  four 
years  was  taken  to  Venice."  Substitute  Venice  and  Bristol  for 
each  other  and  the  two  accounts  agree.  Another  thing  to  be 
observed  is,  that  when  Peter  Martyr  mentions  the  carrying  of 
Sebastian  from  Venice  to  England  in  his  infancy,  he  gives, 
although  parenthetically,  as  the  reason  of  his  being  taken 
there  so  young,  the  custom  of  the  Venetians  of  living  in  any 
part  of  the  world  for  the  sake  of  commerce  Eden  does  not 
take  the  trouble  to  tell  us  why  John  Cabot  took  his  little  child 
of  four  years  of  age  on  so  long  a  journey  as  that  from 
England  to  Venice,  but  is  careful  to  inform  us  that  Sebas- 
tian Cabot  was  supposed  to  be  a  Venetian  in  conse- 
quence of  that  journey.  The  parenthesis  inserted  by  Peter 
Martyr  is  incorporated  with  the  substance  itself  oi  the  story. 
Eden's  added  fact  barely  hangs  on  it  by  a  thread,  and  dis- 
closes his  desire  to  give  authority  for  believing  what  was 
merely  a  vague  report,  but  which  he  was  anxious  to  have 
thought  true.  We  may  add  that  the  information  furnished  by 
Eden  contradicts  good  sense.  Suppose  John  Cabot  had  taken 
his  boy  at  that  tender  age  to  Venice,  and  brought  him  back 
"after  certayne  years."  The  expression,  certain  years,  does  not 
mean  three  or  four,  but  at  least  extends  to  eight  or  ten  ;  and 
the  child  would  then  be  twelve  or  fourteen  years  of  age, 
about  to  reach,  if  he  had  not  already  reached  the  age  at 
which  parents  sent  their  children  to  study  at  Venice.  Would 
John  Cabot  have  taken  his  away  from  there  at  that  time  ? 
Strangers  felt  need  of  the  schools  of  Venice  at  that  age, 
but  John  Cabot,  who  already  had  the  use  of  them,  would 
have  removed  his  child  ?  Sebastian  turned  out  one  of  the  first 


*"Sebastianu3  Cabotus  geneie  Venetus,  sed  a  parentibus  in  Britanniam  ten- 
dentibus  (uti  mos  est  Veuetorum  qui  commeicii  causa  terraruai  omnium  sunt 
hospites)  transportatus  pseneinfans."  App.  xviii. 


HARRISSE7S  ARGUMENT.  87 

men  of  his  age  in  the  sciences  which  relate  to  navigation  ; 
where  did  he  learn  these  sciences  ?  Not  in  England,  for 
there  were  no  suitable  schools  there.  Where  then  ?  Sub- 
stitute, as  we  said,  Bristol  and  Venice  one  for  the  other  in 
Eden's  story,  and  all  runs  smooth.  With  not  another  syllable 
changed  it  will  be  "  Sebastian  Cabot  was  born  in  Venice 
whence  at  the  age  of  four  years  he  was  taken  to  Bristol  ; 
and  from  there  after  certain  years  he  returned  again  to  Ven- 
ice." Why  did  he  return  to  Venice  ?  To  make  his  studies.  In 
this  way  the  reason  of  every  thing  is  clear. 

This  reasoning,  in  my  opinion  is  more  than  sufficient  to 
win  the  cause  for  Venice.  But  Harrisse  has  given  another  ar- 
gument drawn  from  the  English  laws,  which  I  present  here- 
with in  the  learned  American's  own  words. *  The  petition  to 
Henry  VII  in  1496  is  in  the  name  of  John  Cabot  and  Lewis, 
Sebastian,  and  Sancius,  his  sons  ;  and  John  does  not  appear 
as  the  guardian  of  his  sons;  but  they  figure  in  xheir  own  full 
personal  capacity.  So  also  the  letters  patent  of  March  5, 1496, 
recognize  the  individual  and  distinct  character  of  each  of  the 
four  pateu tees;  and  the  grant  is  notto  them  jointly,  but  separ- 
ately to  each  of  them  and  his  heirs  and  representatives  :  "  to 
our  well-beloved  John  Cabot  citizen  of  Venice  and  to  Lewis, 
to  Sebastian,  and  to  Sancius,  sons  of  the  said  John,  and  to  their 
and  each  of  their  heirs  and  deputies,  "f 

The  way  in  which  the  letters  patent  are  expressed  evidently 
supposes  each  of  the  grantees  to  have  attained  to  his  majority. 
Besides  this,  they  specify  or  imply  grants  which  by  the  Eng- 
lish law  can  only  be  enjoyed  by  those  of  age,  as  for  instance, 
to  make  contracts,  to  appoint  commissioners,  to  take  charge 
of  lands,  to  administer  law,  to  grant  licenses.^  It  cannot  be  said 
that  Henry  VII  by  his  royal  authority  created  in  favor 
of  the  minor  sons  of  John  Cabot  a  civil  capacity  in  violation 
of  the  common  law,  for  only  Parliament  had  that  power,  and 
any  thing  in  letters  patent  issued  by  the  sovereign  in  contra- 
vention of  that  common  law  would  be  null  and  void.§ 


*  Jean  et  Sebastien  Cabot,  p.  39,  40. 

f  Eorura  ac  cujuslibet  eorum  haeredibus  et  deputatis.  See  App.  v. 

j:  Blackstone's  commentaries,  New  York,  1851.  vol.i.  Book  i.  c.  xvii.  3.  P. 

^  lb.  Book  ii.  cb.  xxi.  vol.  i.  op.  280,  281. 


88  THE  LIFE  OP  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

John  Cabot's  three  sons  had  then  reached  their  majority,  in 
1496,  which  according  to  the  law  of  England  was  fixed  at  twen- 
ty-one years,  until  which  time  they  are  under  guardianship.* 

Therefore,  Sebastian  Cabot  on  March  5,  1495  must  have 
been  twenty-two  years  old  at  least,  for  his  younger  brother 
Sancius  must  have  completed  his  twenty-first  year ;  con- 
sequently, he  must  have  been  born  before  March  5, 1474.  But 
John  Cabot's  letters  of  naturalization  issued  by  the  Venetian 
Senate  March  28,  147(isay  that  for  fifteen  years  he  had  had  a 
permanent  residence  in  Venice,  f  Therefore  Sebastian  who 
was  at  least  two  years  old  at  that  date  must  have  been  born 
at  Venice. 

Now  let  us  resume  our  way. 

After  the  general  mention  by  Ayala  that  John  Cabot  had 
sailed  every  year  from  1491  with  the  men  of  Bristol  in  search 
of  the  islands  of  Brazil  and  of  the  Seven  Cities,  the  next  no- 
tice we  find  of  him  is  in  the  anonymous  narrative  inserted 
in  Ramusio's  collection.  This  relates  that  Sebastian  Cabot,  son 
of  John,  had  said  that  '"when  his  father  left  Venice  many 
years  before  and  went  to  live  in  England,  he  took  him  with 
him  to  the  city  of  London,  that  he  was  very  young,  yet  not  so 
young  but  what  he  had  learned  humanities  and  the  Sphere. 

"My  father  died  at  the  time  that  news  came  that  Senor  Don 
Christopher  Columbus  had  discovered  the  coasts  of  the  Indies 
and  it  was  much  talked  of  in  all  the  court  of  King  Henry  VII, 
who  was  then  reigning,  and  said  to  be  rather  a  divine  than  a 
human  thing  to  have  found  that  way,  never  before  known,  of 
going  to  the  east  where  the  spices  grow.  From  this  I  conceived 
a  great  desire,  or  rather  a  burning  of  the  heart  to  do  also 
something  distinguished,  and  knowing  by  the  nature  of  the 
Sphere,  that  if  I  sailed  by  way  of  the  north-west  wind  I  should 
have  a  shorter  distance  to  find  the  Indies,  I  immediately  made 
this  thought  of  mine  known  to  the  King  who  was  much 
pleased.  "J 

*  "Ad  annum  vigesimum  primum  et  eo  usque  juveues  sub  tutelam  reponunt." 
J  Stieuahook,  De  Jure  Su-evorum  et  Gothorum  libri  duo,  Holmie,  1672 — 
cited  by  Blackstone. 
f  "Quieumque  annis  xv.  .  .  Venetiis  continue  habitasset."  App.  ii 
X  See  App. 


INFLUE^TCED  BY  COLUMBUS^  SUCCESS.  89 

The  reader  must  have  remarked  that  the  anonymous 
writer  has  fallen  into  two  serious  mistakes  of  fact,  one,  that  he 
makes  John  die  in  1493,  whereas  he  was  still  living  in  1498; 
the  other,  that  he  excludes  him  altogether  from  the  glory  of 
the  English  discoveries  and  gives  all  the  credit  of  them  to  his 
son  Sebastian.  Further  on  we  shall  have  a  better  opportunity 
to  turn  to  this  and  other  errors  of  fact  in  Ramusio's  narrative, 
at  present  we  merely  call  attention  to  it  and  pass  on. 

The  beginning  of  the  narrative  is  somewhat  confused  and, 
but  for  the  certain  information  wre  have  from  other  sources, 
we  might  be  led  to  believe  that  John  Cabot's  departure  from 
Venice,  and  his  going  to  England,  and  then  to  London,  were 
all  in  close  succession.  This  indeliniteness  of  the  narrative  is 
easily  explained  by  reflecting  that  Anonymous  had  his  mind 
fixed  on  London,  to  tell  us  where  and  on  what  occasion  Cabot 
got  the  starting-point  of  his  glorious  career  of  discovery. 
Hence  he  hardly  touches  in  flying  such  matters  as  have  no 
direct  bearing  on  his  plan,  except  so  far  as  necessary  to  under- 
stand the  main  point  of  his  narrative.  But  we,  who  know 
them  from  other  sources,  may  enlarge  on  them  and  fill  the 
gap  in  his  narrative.  Thus  we  understand  that  in  a  voyage  of 
his  from  Bristol  to  London  John  Cabot  had  his  son  Sebastian 
with  him,  and  that  this  was  when  the  news  of  Christopher 
Columbus's  discovery  reached  London. 

Sebastian's  young  mind,  sensitive  to  strong  impressions, 
felt  greatly  moved  at  the  discourses  and  the  great  marvel 
that  was  made  at  that  event,  the  more  so  that  he  was  not 
only  a  seaman's  son,  born  in  a  city  whose  glory,  power,  and 
wealth  were  all  on  the  sea,  but  because  his  natural  inclin- 
ation had  led  him  to  study  geography,  and  in  the  profit  he 
had  derived  from  it  he  was  in  a  better  condition  to  appreciate 
the  work  and  measure  the  greatness  of  the  famous  Genoese 
than  many  of  his  most  enthusiastic  panegyrists.  It  was  those 
discourses  which  fanned  the  flame  that  was  smouldering  in 
his  heart,  and  opened  to  his  young  fancy  the  boundless  fields 
of  future  conflicts  in  the  danger  and  glory  of  discovery.  The 
year  following  Sebastian  stamped  his  name  with  his  father's 
in  the  first  discovery  of  the  American  Continent. 


9Q  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Expedition  of  1498. 

What  number  of  vessels  did  the  expedition  of  1498  consist 
of? — Pasqualigo  had  told  his  brothers  the  year  before  that 
the  King  promised  ten  ships  for  the  new  expedition  :  Soncino 
wrote  the  Duke  of  Milan  that  there  would  be  from  fifteen  to 
twenty.*  The  letters  patent  of  February  3  provide  for  a 
fleet  of  six  ships  :f  but  the  Spanish  ambassador,  writing 
after  the  expedition  had  sailed,  puts  the  number  at  five.  + 

There  were  but  two  according  to  Peter  Martyr  D'Anghiera, 
and  Ramusio  and  Gomara  agree  with  him  ;  but  whereas 
Peter  Martyr  says  they  were  manned  at  Cabot's  expense. § 
Ramusio  says  they  were  at  the  King's  ;  ||  and  Gomara  for 
want  of  positive  information  confines  himself  to  reporting 
that  some  said  they  were  at  the  King's,  and  some  at  Cabot's 
own  expense. T 

It  would  seem  a  hopeless  case  to  try  to  open  a  passage 
through  such  intricate  entanglements  of  contradiction,  and 
that  the  best  plan  would  be  to  cut  it  short,  sweeping  aside 
all  this  encumbrance  of  thorns  and  brambles  we  find  in  the 


*Pasqualigo  :—  "El  re  le  apromesso  a  tempo  novo  navil  x  .  .  .  "  App.  xi. 

Soncino  :  —  "la  Maesta  de  Re  questo  priino  bono  tempo  gli  vole  raaudare 
xv  in  xx  navili." —  App.  xii. 

f"  .  .  .  .  may  take  at  his  pleasure  vi  Englishe  Shippes  ....  " — App.  xiv. 

|"E1  rey  de  Inglaterra  embio  cinco  naos."App.  xv. 

Ayala  repeats  bis  colleague's  words,  as  be  does  throughout  :  "Delarrnada  que 
hizo  que  fueron  cinco  naos  .  .    .  "App.  xvi. 

§  "Duo  is  sibi  navigia  propria  pecunia  in  Britannia  ipsa  instruxit."  App.  xvii. 

||  "Subito  feci  intendere  questo  mio  pensiero  alia  Maesta  del  Re,  il  qual  .  .  . 
mi  armo  due  caravelle."  App.  xix. 

T[  "El  qual  armo  dos  navios  en  Inglaterra.  ...  a  costa  del  Rey  Enrique  Sep- 
timo  ....  otros  disen  que  a  su  costa  ....  "App.  xxi. 


CONTRADICTORY  STATEMENTS.  01 

way.  But  the  matter  deserves  a  little  patient  labor  and  per- 
haps the  work  spent  on  it  will  not  be  unprofitable.  For  one 
thing,  I  believe  we  must  leave  out  Pasqualigo  and  Soncino  en- 
tirely, for  neither  could  do  more  than  repeat  the  rumors  then 
current.  And  even  admitting  that  the  King  in  the  heat  of  en- 
thusiasm named  a  rather  high  figure,  a  more  calm  and  accu- 
rate consideration  may  have  shown  him  that  the  number  men- 
tioned in  the  letters  patent  was  sufficient.  As  to  the  other 
statements  I  think  our  labor  will  succeed  best  if  we  first  un- 
tangle the  snarl  in  the  contradiction  between  Peter  Martyr 
and  Ramusio. 

I  have  already  said,  and  repeat  it  here,  that  Anghiera  wrote 
and  published  his  Decade  in  which  he  speaks  of  this  expedi- 
tion while  Sebastian  Cabot  was  a  guest  in  his  house.  It  is 
therefore  to  my  mind  undoubted  that  he  received  or  verified 
his  information  from  Cabot's  own  lips.  But  the  anonymous 
whose  discourse  is  reported  by  Ramusio  also  had  his  direct 
from  Sebastian.  How  then  account  for  the  open  contradiction 
in  their  words  on  this  point  ?  It  would  be  absurd  to  suppose 
that  Sebastian  wanted  to  deceive  either  of  them  on  this  whilst 
giving  him  correct  information  on  all  other  matters.  We 
must  then  suppose  that  the  memory  of  one  or  the  other  was 
at  fault.  Of  which  one  ?  Of  Ramusio's  anonymous,  because 
Anghiera  wrote  his  information  fresh  from  Cabot's  lips  ;  the 
anonymous  on  the  contrary  referred  to  his  memory  a  long 
time  after,  and  his  information  only  reaches  us  at  third  hand 
through  Ramusio,  who  besides,  from  the  very  commencement 
of  his  narrative,  protests  that  he  does  not  feel  himself  capable  of 
relating  it  in  all  its  particulars  as  they  were  told.  As  we  have 
no  reason  for  suspecting  Sebastian's  word,  we  must  believe  that 
the  two  ships  were  manned  at  Cabot's  expense  as  Peter  Martyr 
says,  and  not  at  the  King's  as  reported  by  Ramusio.  Another 
difficulty  is  here  presented,  how,  namely,  the  King  could  draw 
back  from  all  share  in  the  equipment  of  the  fleet  after  all  his 
enthusiasm  the  year  before.  But  the  difficulty  vanishes  when 
we  remember  the  miserly  nature  of  Henry  VII.  An  English 
historian  says  of  him  :  "Avarice  was,  on  the  whole,  his  ruling 
passion ;  and  he  remains  an  instance,  almost  singular,  of  a 


92 


THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 


man  placed  in  a  high  station,  and  possessed  of  talents  for  great 
affairs,  in  whom  that  passion  predominated  above  ambition. 
So  insatiable  was  his  avarice.  .  .  By  all  these  arts  of  accumula- 
tion, joined  to  a  rigid  frugality  in  his  expense,  he  so  filled 
his  coffers,  that  he  is  said  to  have  possessed  in  ready  money 
the  sum  of  one  million  eight  hundred  thousand  pounds  ;  a 
treasure  almost  incredible,  if  we  consider  the  scarcity  of 
money  in  those  times."*  It  may  be  well  to  recall  here  that 
when  John  Cabot  had  roused  the  whole  people  of  England 
to  enthusiasm  by  his  discovery  and  was  generally  believed  to 
have  opened  to  them  a  new  era  of  incalculable  wealth,  King 
Henry  in  token  of  the  royal  participation  in  the  general  re- 
joicing and  of  his  munificent  recognition  of  so  great  an  event 
sent  him  a  present  of  ten  pounds  sterling.  What  wonder  is 
it  that  this  miserly  disposition,  which  on  every  grave  oc- 
casion had  often  induced  him  to  forget  all  regard  for  the 
majesty  of  his  throne  and  his  own  personal  decorum,  should 
make  him  loath  to  draw  out  of  his  securely  locked  coffers  the 
gold  he  had  sought  and  guarded  with  such  industry  and  care 
to  venture  it  on  an  uncertain  undertaking  like  that  which 
Cabot  was  preparing  for  ?  It  must  also  be  borne  in  mind 
that  he  was  in  constant  necessity  of  money  for  combatting 
external  and  internal  enemies  who  kept  him  in  trouble  more 
or  less  during  the  whole  of  his  long  reign,  and  obliged  him 
to  incur  fresh  expenses  at  the  very  time  when  this  expedition 
was  fitting  out.f^ 

Henry  VII,  hesitating  between  the  avarice  and  necessity 
which  held  him  back,  and  the  advantage  which  urged  him 
on,  did  as  such  characters  usually  do  under  such  circumstances. 
He  made  a  show  of  acting,  and  urging  others,  turned  the 
merit  of  their  movement  in  his  favor,  remaining  in  the  mean- 
while in  the  comfort  of  his  own  repose. 

In  this  King's  book  of  private  expenses  we  read  these 
entries  : 

— "  22  March,  1498.  To  Landslot  Thirkill  of  London,  upon 
a  prest,  for  his  shipp  going  towards  the  Ilande  20  1. 

*  Hume,  History  of  England,  ch.  xxvi.  f  Hume  lb. 


THE  PART  TAKEN  BY  HEXRY  VII.  93 

— "Delivered  to  Launcelot  Thirkill  going  towards  the  New 
Isle  in  prest,  20  1. 

— "1  April  1498.  To  Thomas  Bradley  and  Lancelot  Thirkill 
going  to  the  New  Isle,  30  1. 

— "To  John  Carter,  going  to  the  New  Isle,  in  rewarde  2  11."* 

From  these  entries  it  seems  to  me  evident  thtit  the  aid  of 
the  King  was  reduced  to  helping  by  loans  and  encouraging 
such  as  wished  to  take  part  in  the  expedition  ;  and  the  loans 
correspond  perfectly  to  the  character  of  a  miser,  for  they 
return  principal  and  interest. 

In  fact  it  was  natural  for  the  Spanish  ambassador  to  say  the 
ships  of  the  expedition  were  sent  out  by  the  King,  for,  no 
matter  who  fitted  them  out,  it  was  still  his  order  that  made 
them  sail.  Now,  to  the  two  ships  fitted  out  at  Cabot's  own  ex- 
pense, add  three  others  fitted  out  by  the  merchants  with  the 
aid  of  loans  from  the  King's  private  purse,  and  we  have 
the  precise  number  of  five  as  given  in  the  Spanish  dispatch. 
I  believe  this  was  the  actual  number  of  ships  that  sailed: 
which  is  practically  the  number  fixed  by  the  letters  patent  of 
February  3,  1498,  as  many  reasons,  all  very  likely,  may  be 
found  to  account  for  the  failure  of  one  of  the  ships.  But  why 
did  Cabot  mention  to  Peter  Martyr  and  Ramusio  only  the 
two  vessels  fitted  out  at  his  own  expense  ? 

It  is  impossible  to  give  a  clear  answer.  It  may  be  useful  to  re- 
member that  Cabot  had  been  very  little  pleased  with  England 
and  the  support  for  his  discoveries  that  he  found  there.  Is 
it  not  possible  that  some  feeling  of  irritation  made  him  less 
just,  so  that,  giving  all  the  honor  of  the  discovery  to  his  own 
ships,  he  left  to  be  regarded  as  mere  accessories  the  three  ships 
of  the  merchants,  doubtless  laden  with  articles  and  specimens 
of  trade  ? 

The  expedition  sailed  in  the  beginning  of  summer. f  300 
persons  went  with  it.  ±     It  had  two  purposes  ;  to  colonize  the 


*  v.  App.  x. 

f  '*.  .  .  il  Re  mi  arm6  due  Caravelle  rii  huto  cioche  era  di  bisogno  e  f u  .  .  . .  nel 
principio  della  state  etcomiuciai  a  navignre  verso  maestro "  App.  xix. 

%  Primo  tendensctm  hominibus  tercentum  ad  Septentrionem.  Pietro  Marti  re 
d'Anghiera.  —App.  xviii.  — Llevo  trezientos  liombres Gomara,  App.  xxi. 


94  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

lands  discovered  on  the  previous  voyage,  the  other,  to  proceed 
further  till  they  reached  the  land  of  spices,  and  open  com- 
mercial relations  with  it. 

Peter  Martyr  does  not  give  the  year  in  which  the  expedi- 
tion of  Sebastian  Cabot,  of  which  he  speaks,  took  place  :  but  as 
he  distinctly  informs  us  that  he  was  writing  of  it  in  1515,  and 
the  whole  Decade  in  which  it  is  mentioned  was  printed  the 
same  year,  it  is  certain  that  his  account  cannot  refer  to  the 
voyage  to  the  same  places  undertaken  by  Sebastian  Cabot  in 
1516. *  Neither  does  Gomara  tell  us  the  year,  but  as  his  nar- 
rative is  drawn  so  faithfully  after  Peter  Martyr's  that  it  may 
be  called  a  translation  of  it,  he  must  of  necessity  follow  him, 
and  if  Anghiera  takes  us  to  1498,  Gomara  must  refer  to  the 
same  year. 

The  matters  related  by  Peter  Martyr  and  Gomara  meet 
the  account  given  by  Ramusio,  but  all  is  thrown  into  confusion 
by  the  date  he  gives  of  the  voyage  as  in  the  year  1496.  This 
is  the  third  time  that  we  have  had  to  complain  of  Ramusio 
as  a  stumbling-block  between  our  feet  involving  us  in  serious 
difficulties;  on  the  two  previous  occasions  we  put  off  the  ques- 
tion, but  now  it  is  time  for  us  to  stop  and  inquire  into  it. 

Ramusio  relates  that  going  with  a  friend  to  visit  the  cele- 
brated Fracas'toro  at  his  villa  of  Caphi,  he  found  him  in  the 
company  of  "a  gentleman  who  was  a  great  philosopher  and 
mathematician,whose  name  out  of  respect  is  not  given,"  This  phil- 
osopher, as  the  conversation  turned  upon  the  "plan  of  going 
to  find  the  Indies  by  way  of  the  north-west  wind"  made  on 
this  subject  "a  long  and  admirable  discourse  and  amongst  other 
things  related  a  visit  of  his  to  Sebastian  Cabot  in  Spain, 
and  the  accounts  the  latter  had  given  him  of  his  voyages  and 
discoveries.  Ramusio,  who  was  then  composing  his  great  Collcc- 

*  Peter  Martyr  after  telling  of  Cabot's  expedition  for  the  benefit  of  England, 
writes  that  he  is  about  to  commence  another  for  the  benefit  of  Spain  and  indi- 
cates the  time  by  these  words  :  "Martio  mense  anni  futvri  MDXVI  pnto  ad 
explorandum  discessurum."  Even  without  them,  there  coiO.d  be  no  doubt,  for 
the  Decade  was  printed  in  1516,  that  is  to  say,  during  the  expedition  that  Se- 
bastian Cabot  made  that  year  to  the  western  sea,  before  it  was  possible  to  have 
any  information  of  its  incidents  or  results.  See  the  Bibliotheca  Americana  Vetus- 
tissima  of  H.  Harrisse,  p.  153. 


95 

Hon  of  Voyages  and  Navigations,  inserted  in  it  this  discourse  of 
the  gentleman,  putting  it  in  the  person  of  Cabot  himself  as  the 
Anonymous  had  done.* 

We  are  not  told  in  what  year  Anonymous  met  Sebastian. 
Avezac  supposes  it  was  in  1544  or  1545  ;+  but  as  it  is  neces- 
sary to  put  Ramusio's  visit  to  the  Villa  of  Caphi  in  1547  or 
1548  (as  Avezac  admits),  it  does  not  seem  to  me  that  at  the 
distance  of  only  three  or  four  years  Anonymous  could  have 
said  "finding  myself  miny  years  ago  in  the  city  of  Seville."  I 
therefore  think  the  conversation  with  Sebastian  must  have  oc- 
curred some  years  earlier. 

The  story  of  Anonymous  begins  with  John  Cabot's  depart- 
ure from  Venice  and  his  settling  at  Bristol,  thence  running,  or 
rather  flying,  he  hints  at  what  Sebastian  Cabot  had  done  for 
England,  his  arrival  in  Spain,  the  fresh  glory  acquired  and 
the  high  office  he  held  there;  that  is,  in  a  little  over  a  page,  it 
includes  a  period  of  time  extending  from  1477  till  beyond  1533, 
or  a  space  of  at  least  about  sixty  years,  but  probably  more.  This 
flight  over  such  space  of  time  could  naturally  allow  him 
to  make  nothing  more  than  a  slight  mention  of  events,  but, 
however  slight,  the  mention  is  most  valuable  to  us  in  our 
great  dearth  of  information  concerning  Cabot.  That  his  testi- 
mony is  correct  and  to  be  relied  on  is  proved  by  the  compari- 
son we  are  able  to  make  of  his  testimony  on  some  points 
with  that  of  others,  and  which  shows  them  fully  to  agree. 
But  when  he  descends  to  any  details,  especially  of  date,  he  has 


*  Toinaso  Giunti,  who  republished  Ramusio's  work  in  1613,  places  after  this 
Anonymous's  name,  I  know  not  on  what  ground  the  addition  of  Mantuan.  From 
this  Marco  Foscarini  supposed  it  was  the  Mantuan  Giangiacomo  Bartolo  (Ms.  No. 
6142  of  the  Imperial  Library  at  Vienna,  cited  by  C.  Bullo,  La  Vera  Patria  di 
Giovanni  Caboto  p.  xxviii).  Foscarini's  opinion  has  probably  no  other  ground 
than  that  in  Fracastoro's  Dialogue  Navagcrius  site  de  Poetica,  dedicated  to 
Ramusio,  one  of  the  persons  introduced  in  the  dialogue  is  Joannes  Jacobus  Bar- 
dulo  Mautuanus  civis.  Harrisse,  p.  339.  We  have  already  seen,  in  Chapter 
VII,  that  Richard  Eden  durst  assert  that  he  was  Galeazzo  Bottrigari,  Papal 
Nuncio  to  Spain,  who  died  as  early  as  1518. 

t  Revue  Critique  d' Histoire  et  Litterature.  Premier  semestre,  1870,  p.  265.  The 
approximate  time  of  the  visit  to  theVilla  of  Caphi  is  taken  from  these  words 
of  Anonymous  in  speaking  of  the  Portuguese  :  "  this  last  battle  of  theirs  with 
the  King  of  Cambay."  As  it  was  fought  in  1546,  the  expression  this  could  not 
have  been  applied  to  it  later  than  1547,  or  at  most  1548.     . 


96  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

made  the  greatest  confusion  possible.  We  have  already  seen 
that  he  makes  John  Cabot  die  about  the  time  that  Christopher 
Columbus  returned  from  his  discovery,  that  is,  in  1493, 
whereas  he  was  still  alive  in  1498.  We  shall  soon  find  him 
placing  the  departure  of  his  son  Sebastian  for  Spain,  to  enter 
the  service  of  the  Catholic  Kings,  immediately  after  his  return 
from  the  voyage  of  1498  ;  whereas  it  is  proved  that  he  did  not 
go  to  Spain  before  the  death  of  Henry  VII,  that  is,  not  before 
1509  ;*  or  rather  as  we  shall  see,  he  did  not  in  fact  go  there 
till  1512.  He  further  says  that  he  went  to  Spain  to  serve  the 
Catholic  King  and  Queen  Isabella  ;  when  that  great  woman 
had  been  dead  since  1504.  f 

Such  confounding  of  dates  is  a  most  serious  fault  in  an  his- 
torian, but  in  this  particular  case  of  Sebastian  Cabot's  voyage, 
if  we  consider  the  matter  carefully,  Ramusio's  fault  is  a  very 
slight  one,  and  most  probably  none  at  all.  For,  in  the  first 
place,  we  must  remember  that  neither  he  nor  Anonymous 
whose  discourse  he  is  reporting,  ever  had  any  intention  of  re- 
lating a  sketch  of  Sebastian  Cabot's  life,  so  that  it  would  be  nec- 
essary to  fit  its  parts  in  with  due  division  of  time  and  years  ; 
neither  had  any  other  view  than  that  of  relating  the  voyage 
of  discovery  which  Sebastian  Cabot  had  made  to  the  northern 
parts  of  America.  The  whole  story  is,  therefore,  directed 
to  this  purpose,  and  what  there  is  over  and  above  and  not 
strictly  relating  thereto,  serves  only  to  tell  us  how  Sebastian 
came  to  be  in  England  to  make  the  voyage,  and  why  he  did 
not  continue  the  work  begun.  In  the  second  place,  we  must 
remember  that  when  Anonymous  related  his  story  in  Fracas- 
toro's  Villa  many  years  had  elapsed  since  his  conversation 
with  Sebastian  Cabot  in  Spain.J        Now  that  after  so  long  a 

*  "Familiarem  habeo  domi  Caborum,  Vocatus  namque  ex  Britannia  a  rege 
uostro  Catuulieo  post  Hen  rid  maioris  Britanniae  regis  mortem  .  .  .  ." 
P.  Martyris  de  Angheria.  De  rebus  Oceanicis.  Dec.  iii.  lib.  vi.  Henry  VII 
died  in  1509. 

f  "My  father  died  at,  the  time  that  news  enme  that  Serior  Don  Christopher 
Columbus  the  Genoese,  had  discovered  the  shore  of  the  Indies..  .  .1  resolved  to 
go  brick  to  England.  .  .  .whereon  arriving  I  found  very  trreat  commotions.  .  .  . 
on  account  of  which  I  came  to  Spain  to  the  Catholic  King  and  to  Queen  Isa- 
bella, who  received  me  and  gave  me  a  good  appointment."     App.  xix. 

\  "And  being  in  the  city  of  Seville  some  years  ago."  App.  xix. 


RAMUSIO's  ANONYMOUS.  97 

time  a  man  of  sense,  as  he  was,  should  repeat  a  story  with 
substantial  correctness  is  very  possible  where  the  matter 
treated  of  is  one  that  greatly  interests  him  ;  but  it  would  be 
a  marvel  if  he  carried  the  same  correctness  into  the  details, 
especially  if  these  details  are  not  essential  to  the  substance 
of  the  story.  Add  to  this,  that  Sebastian  Cabot's  story,  to 
reach  us,  has  not  only  had  to  pass  through  the  memory  of 
Anonymous,  but  also  through  Ramusio's.  May  it  not  have 
lost  something  in  this  last  passage  ?  Ramusio  himself  answers 
by  the  following  declaration  which  he  makes  before  begin- 
ning the  story  of  Anonymous. 

"  I  do  not  pretend,  "  he  says,  "  to  write  his  discourse  with 
as  full  details  as  I  heard  it,  for  that  would  require  other  skill 
and  memory  than  I  possess  ;  still  I  will  try  to  give  a  sum- 
mary or,  as  it  icere,  the  heads  of  what  /  can  remember."*  If  this 
does  not  suffice,  hear  what  he  says  just  afterwards,  still 
speaking  of  the  discourse  of  Anonymous  :  "With  regard  to 
the  Mediterranean  Sea,  I  seem  to  remember  that  he  touched 
upon  I  know  not  what  voyage  that  might  be  made  on  it 
with  great  profit,  but  to  what  place  has  entirely  escaped  my 
memory.'' 'f  Now,  if  Ramusio  entirely  forgot  all  about  a 
voyage  of  very  great  profit  that  could  be  made  right  here  at 
home,  on  the  Mediterranean,  is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that 
his  memory  should  slip  on  a  detail  concerning  a  voyage 
made  more  than  half  a  century  before  in  seas  entirely  un- 
known ? 

To  account  for  the  mistake  of  the  date  as  1496,  let  us  go 
back  to  the  visit  which  Anonymous  made  to  Sebastian  Cabot 
at  Seville.^:  The  great  man  receives  his  visitor  with  all  cour- 
tesy, and  yielding  to  his  request  gives  him  a  summary  ac- 


*  App.  xix. 

f  lb.  "II  quale  ragionamento,  egli  dice,  non  mi  basta  1' animo  di  potere 
scrivere  cosi  particolarmente  com'  io  lo  udl,  perche"  vi  saria  di  bisogno  altro 
ingegno,  et  altra  memoria,  che  non  e  la  mia,  pur  mi  sforzero  sommariamente  e 
come  per  capi  di  recital'  quel  che  mi  potrb  ricordare.  A  propositi)  del  Mar 
Mediterraneo  mi  par  ricordare  che  toccasse  anche  di  nou  so  che  viaggio  che  si 
pot.ria  fare  in  quello  di  graudissimo  proposito,  ma  a  che  parte  emmi  al  tutto 
to  dalla  memoria." 


98  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

count  of  the  voyages  and  discoveries  he  had  made.  As  this 
account  included  in  the  brief  space  of  a  conversation  the 
course  of  many  years  and  events,  he  was  obliged  to  mention 
the  most  important  things  and  pass  lightly  over  the  rest. 

For  us  seeking  to  reconstruct  the  story  of  those  events 
from  the  few  remaining  fragments,  it  is  of  greatest  importance 
to  fix  dates  ;  but  this  importance  did  not  exist  for  Cabot  who 
was  narrating  facts,  not  fixing  dates,  nor  for  Anonymous 
who  on  his  side  had  special  reasons  for  wishing  to  know  the 
facts.  The  intention  of  both  was  to  relate  and  listen  to  the 
direction  of  voyages,  obstacles  met  with,  what  was  seen  and 
done  ;  and  why  the  undertaking  did  not  answer  its  purpose. 
Of  all  this  we  find  a  rapid  mention  in  the  account  of 
Anonymous.  There  was  one  thing  that  had  no  interest  for 
Anonymous,  though  it  had  much  for  Sebastian,  and  he  could 
not  have  omitted  it.  Any  one  who  has  read  autobiographies, 
even  those  of  great  men,  must  have  observed  how  they  dwell 
on  all  the  details  of  their  first  steps  in  the  career  of  their  great- 
ness, and  the  difficulties  they  met  and  overcame,  whilst  they 
are  concise  enough,  and  often  sparing,  to  the  reader's  regret, 
with  the  facts  of  the  greatest  and  most  general  importance. 
For  we  all  judge  the  importance  of  things  by  their  impression 
on  us  rather  than  their  intrinsic  value.  This  is  so  general 
that  it  has  no  need  of  examples  to  prove  it.  Now,  in  the 
first  days  of  his  career  as  navigator  and  discoverer,  what  must 
have  made  a  deep  impression  on  Sebastian  Cabot's  mind,  so 
that  it  would  be  in  his  thoughts  and  he  would  be  sure  to  speak 
of  it  to  any  one  asking  for  the  story  of  those  first  years  of  his 
life  ?  It  must  have  been  the  patent  by  which  King  Henry 
VII  authorized  his  father  and  brothers  and  himself  to  sail  on 
new  discoveries.  Who  can  say  how  John  Cabot  had  strug- 
gled to  procure  that  longed-for  patent  ?  How  many  stairs 
he  Avent  up,  what  repulses  he  endured,  how  often,  when  he 
believed  he  had  succeeded,  he  had  to  begin  anew  ?  To  Se- 
bastian, whose  youth  and  taste  inclined  him  strongly  to  the 
sea,  this  continued  alternating  between  hope  and  discourage- 
ment must  have  been  much  more  painful  than  to  his  father  ; 
and  in  proportion  to  the  anxiety  of  deferred  hope  must  have 


99 

been  the  pleasure  of  receiving  the  patent.  That  day  opened 
clear  and  sure  to  him  the  road  of  discovery,  and  it  was  im- 
possible for  its  date  ever  to  be  erased  from  his  memory.  He 
could  not  have  failed  to  mention  that  starting-point  to  one 
questioning  him  concerning  his  glorious  career.  It  seems  to 
me  most  natural  (and  therefore  true)  that  he  commenced  the 
account  of  his  discoveries  from  the  year  in  which  the  royal 
patent  authorized  them,  that  is,  from  1496.  His  auditor 
was  not  thinking  of  that,  but  of  the  voyage,  and  when  he 
hoard  this  given  as  the  starting-point,  he  took  it  for  the  start- 
ing-point of  his  voyage  instead  of  that  of  his  career. 

Or  it  may  be  supposed  with  no  less  probability  that  Anony- 
mous caught  the  true  sense  of  Sebastian  Cabot's  words  and  so 
repeated  them,  and  Ramusio  confounded  the  two  events.  Ra- 
musio  himself  leads  me  to  suppose  this,  for  in  his  first  edition 
he  precedes  the  date  of  1496  with  the  words,  saving  the  truth. 
"The  King  ....  fitted  me  up  two  caravels  with  every  thing 
needed,  and  this  was,  saving  the  truth,  in  1496."*  So  that 
Ramusio  himself  was  in  doubt  whether  he  was  correctly  report- 
ing or  had  rightly  understood  the  words  of  Anonymous.  In  sub- 
sequent editions,  for  what  reason  I  know  not,  this  eloquent 
little  parenthesis  is  ommitted.  The  date,  then,  of  1496/  given 
by  Ramusio  can  create  no  difficulty  ;  and  as  in  his  account  he 
agrees  with  the  narrative  of  Peter  Martyr  d'  Anghiera,  it 
must  be  certain  that  they  are  both  speaking  of  the  same  voy- 
age, and  as  that  mentioned  by  Peter  Martyr  refers  to  1498, 
we  must  place  Ramusio's  in  the  same  year. 

Having  thus  cleared  our  path  of  the  first  obstacle  that  con- 
fronted us,  let  us  see  what  we  can  put  together  from  the  dif- 
ferent accounts.  We  know  from  Ayala's  dispatch  that  the  fleet 
had  hardly  got  to  sea  when  it  was  struck  by  a  violent  storm, 
and  one  of  the  ships  was  so  damaged  that  it  went  back  for 
safety  to  the  coast  of  Ireland.  There  was  a  Friar  Buil  on  this 
vessel  ;  most  likely  a  religious  sent  out  for  service  among  the 
colonies  whom  it  was  intended  to  leave  in  the  lands  newly  dis- 


*  "II  Re  .  .  .mi  armo  due  caiavelle  di  tutto  cio  che  eradi  bisogno  et  fu,  salvo 
ilvero,  nel  1496."  P.  402.  -The  first  edition  was  published  in  Venice  by  thp 
heirs  of  Lucantonio  Giunti,  in  the  year  MDL. 


100  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

covered.*  Ramusio  says  in  general  terms  that  the  fleet  on  leav- 
ing England  took  a  course  to  the  north-west. f  Gomara  more 
definitely,  that  it  sailed  towards  Iceland.^  Between  this  island 
and  Bristol  there  was  some  commerce  in  relation  to  fish  ;  and 
Biddle  thinks  that  Cabot  very  prudently  regarded  it  as  a  place 
where  he  could  give  his  men  a  resting-place  on  the  long  voy- 
age on  which  he  was  taking  them,  and  avoid  the  fatigue  which 
its  excessive  length  might  produce  on  the  sailors  in  the 
watery  solitude.g 

Why,  instead  of  sailing  due  west,  did  they  take  a  course  so 
far  to  the  north  ?  It  is  necessary  to  pause  a  little  to  answer 
this  question,  in  order  that  our  story  may  proceed  with  clear- 
ness and  without  obstacles.  The  Cabots  had  believed  they 
had  arrived  at  the  continent  of  Asia  on  their  previous  dis- 
covery. But  later,  whether  the  effect  of  information  coming 
from  Spain  concerning  the  discoveries  of  Christopher  Co- 
lumbus, which  told  only  of  new  islands,  or  a  more  mature  and 
calm  study  of  the  stories  of  Marco  Polo,  the  only  authority 
that  could  be  had  on  the  extreme  eastern  regions  of  Asia, 
who  related  that  in  front  of  those  countries  there  was  a  long 
stretch  of  islands  in  the  sea,  or  whatever  else  it  may  have  been 
(for  it  is  not  possible  for  us  to  know  all  these  particulars,  and 
it  would  not  help  us  if  it  were);  the  fact  is  and  of  this  there  is 
no  question,  that  a  change  had  been  effected  in  Cabot's  mind 
in  regard  to  the  real  character  of  the  places  he  had  discovered, 
and  in  accordance  with  this  change  were  his  new  aspirations 
and  the  new  purposes  of  his  third  expedition. 

Admitting,  then,  that  the  land  explored  on  the  previous 
voyage  was  an  island,  it  naturally  followed  that  the  conti- 


*  App.  xvi.— It  is  strange  that  the  friar  who  went  with  Christopher  Co- 
lumbus to  evangelize  the  New  World  was  also  named  Buil.  Harrisse  asks: 
"  Might  he  not  be  the  same  ?"  p.  102.  If  so,  it  must  have  been  shame  or  remorse 
that  induced  him  to  return  to  the  New  World,  there  to  wash  away  the  dark 
stain  contracted  there  by  his  infamous  conduct  towards  Christopher  Columbus. 
See  Tarducci's  Life  of  Christopher  Columbus.  Bwok  1.  ch.  31. 

t  App.  xix. 

X  Prometio  . . .  de  ir  por  el  norte  al  Cataio  .  .  .  y  camino  la  buelta  de  Islan- 
dia — App.  xxi. 

£  Memoir,  p.  23, 


THE  COURSE  TAKEN  IN  1498.  '     '  101* 

nent  must  be  beyond;  for  no  one  had  as  yet  suspected  that  the 
lands  which  were  discovered  belonged  to  a  new  continent,  it 
was  still  the  universal  conviction  that  beyond  the  Atlantic 
must  be  the  continent  of  Asia  .  The  aim  of  the  present  voy- 
age was  therefore  limited  to  finding  among  these  islands  a 
channel  giving  passage  to  the  mainland.  On  the  previous 
voyage  they  had  explored  a  long  tract  of  the  coast  of  Lab- 
rador without  finding  its  end.  On  this,  to  avoid  the  ne- 
cessity of  repeating  the  tiresome  sailing  along  the  part  of  Lab- 
rador which  they  had  seen  the  year  before,  from  the  time  of 
leaving  they  go  up  well  to  the  north-west,  and  then  change 
to  due  west,  sure  of  finding  an  open  sea  north  of  the  land  a- 
long  which  they  had  coasted  the  previous  years,  or  that  at 
least  they  should  not  have  far  to  sail  before  they  came  to  the 
end  of  the  coast.  On  reaching  the  mainland  beyond  the  isl- 
ands, it  was  their  intention  to  sail  south  until  they  came  op- 
posite to  the  island  of  Cipango,  which  they  imagined  to  be  the 
centre  of  the  wealth  and  treasures  of  the  East.  "Master  John," 
writes  Soncino,  "has  set  his  mind  on  higher  things,  because 
he  thinks  that  after  reaching  that  place  he  can  sail  always 
close  to  the  shore,  further  towards  the  east,  till  he  is  opposite 
to  an  island  which  he  calls  Cipango,  situated  in  the  equatorial 
region,  and  where  all  the  spices  and  jewels  of  the  world  come 
from."*  And  Ramusio  more  distinctly  yet,  "Cabot  expected 
to  find  no  land  till  he  came  to  that  where  Cathay  is,  and  then 
from  there  to  turn  towards  the  Indies  ;  but  after  a  few  days 
he  found  that  it  trended  to  the  north,  at  which  sight  he  was 
infinitely  disappointed  ;  he  returned  along  the  coast  to  see  if 
he  could  find  a  gulf  to  change  the  direction,  but  came  to 
none  till  he  reached  fifty-six  degrees  under  our  pole,  where 
seeing  that  the  coast  turned  eastwards,  he  went  back  in  de- 
spair to  explore  the  same  coast  on  the  side  towards  the  south, 
still  with  the  hope  of  fiuding  a  passage  to  the  Indies,  "f 


*  << 


'Messer  Zoanne  ha  postal*  ammo  ad  maggior  cosa  perche  pensa,  da  quello 
loco  occupato  andarsene  sempre  a  Riva  Rivapiu  verso  al  Levante,  tanto  chel 
sia  al  opposito  de  una  isola,  da  lui  chiamata  Cipango,  posta  in  la  reeione 
equinoctiale  dove  crede  che  nascano  tutte  le  speciarie  del  mundo  et  anche  le 
gioie."  App.  xiii. 
f  "Caboto  si  pensa va  di  non  trovar  terra,  se  non  quella  dove  e  il  Cataio,  e  di 


102  TilE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

Peter  Martyr  says  nothing  of  the  height  of  latitude  reached 
on  the  voyage,  but  tells  us,  "that  they  went  so  far  north  that  in 
the  month  of  July  they  found  immense  masses  of  ice  floating  in 
the  sea,  and  the  day  was  almost  continual."*  Gomara  gives  the 
same  details  as  Peter  Martyr  with  the  addition  of  the  degree 
reached  which,  instead  of  being  the  fifty-sixth  as  Ramusio  has 
it,  he  says  was  the  fifty-eighth,  f 

So  we  are  again  in  difficulty  and  must  work  our  way  through 
contradictory  accounts.  The  reader  has  probably  observed 
that  in  Ramusio's  account  there  is  one  point  where  he  runs 
against  a  truth  of  fact.  The  fifty-sixth  degree,  which  he  gives 
as  the  final  point  to  which  Cabot  sailed,  takes  us  right  on  the 
coast  of  Labrador,  which  instead  of  trending  east,  trends  to  the 
north-west,  just  in  the  direction  that  Cabot  had  supposed.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  circumstances  mentioned  by  Peter  Martyr, 
of  the  masses  of  floating  ice,  and  the  almost  continual  day 
are  absolutely  irreconcilable  with  the  latitude  as  given  by  Ra- 
musio; for  although  it  may  not  be  impossible  to  see  some  stray 
icebergs  in  the  sea  that  bathes  the  coast  of  Labrador,  they  are 
never  numerous  enough  to  make  navigation  difficult  or  dan- 
gerous, certainly  not  in  July,  as  happened  to  Cabot.  Nor  is 
the  night  in  that  latitude  so  short  as  to  warrant  the 
expression  that  the  day  was  almost  continual.  The  same 
difficulty  with  a  slight  difference  is  found  with  Gomara's 
fifty-eighth  degree.  The  skein  seemed  so  tangled  as  to  leave 
no  hope  of  being  able  to  undo  it  ;  but  an  acute  remark  of 
Zurla's  has  put  its  head  in  our  hands  ;  and  as  his  suggestion 

la  poi  vol  tare  verso  le  Indie,  ma  in  capo  di  alquanti  giorni  la  discoperse  che 
correva  verso  tramontana,  la  qual  vista  gli  fu  di  infinito  dispiacere  ;  e  pure 
andando  dietro  la  costa  per  vedere  se  poteva  trovare  qualche  golfo  che  voltasse 
non  vi  fu  mai  ordine,  finche  andato  sino  a  gradi  cinquanta  sei  sotto  il  nostro 
polo,  vedendo  che  quivi  la  costa  voltava  verso  levante,  disperato  di  trovarlo 
se  ne  torno  a  dietro  a  riconoscere  ancora  la  detta  costa  dalla  parte  verso  Y 
equinoziale  sempre  con  intenzione  di  trovar  passaggio  alle  Indie."  App.  xix. 

*  ". . .  primo  tendens ad  septenirionem  donee  etiam  Julio  mense  vastas 

repererit  glaciales  moles  pelago  natantes  et  lucem  fere  perpetuam..."  App.xviii. 

+  " .  ..hasta  se  poner  en  cinquanta  y  ocho  grados.  Aunque  el  dize  mucho  mas 
contando  como  avia  por  el  mes  de  Julio  tanto  f  rio  y  pedacos  de  zelo  que  no  oso 
passar  mas  adelante,  y  que  los  dias  eran  grandissimos  y  quasi  sin  noche  y  las 
noches  muy  claras."  App.  xxi. 


THE  LATITUDE  REACHED.  103 

agrees  perfectly  with  the  places  and  fact  to  which  he  refers,  it 
seems  to  me  reasonable  to  accept  and  follow  it.*  He  observed 
that  to  have  such  length  of  daylight  as  to  make  the  day  appear 
almost  uninterrupted  it  is  necessary  to  go  at  least  ten  degrees 
higher  than  Ramusio  puts  it,  and  reach  66°.  There,  in  fact,  enor- 
mous masses  of  ice  may  be  met  with  even  in  the  middle  of  July. 
These  circumstances  should  suffice  to  convince  us  that  there  is 
an  error  in  the  number  56  given  by  Ramusio,  and  that  it  should 
be  66.  But  in  addition  to  the  circumstances  mentioned  by  Zurla, 
there  is  a  third  which  completes  the  agreement  throughout. 
This  last  I  think  should  be  examined  at  some  length  to  remove 
all  question  as  to  Zurla's  supposition.  Gomara  has  told  us 
that  on  leaving  Bristol  the  expedition  sailed  towards  Iceland. 
If  we  cast  our  eyes  over  the  map,  and  from  the  southern 
point  of  Iceland  along  which  Cabot  sailed  with  his  fleet  we 
follow  his  course  to  the  west  till  we  come  to  land,  after  a 
few  days,  as  Ramusio  says,  we  find  it,  and  it  is  Greenland  in 
the  same  latitude  as  we  found  Iceland,  for  its  lowest  latitude 
63°  20',  and  Cape  Farewell  the  extreme  southern  limit  of 
Greenland  extends  to  59°  43',  and  the  short  distance  between 
them  agrees  perfectly  with  Ramusio's  expression,  "after  a  few 
days."  Cabot,  who  expected  to  find  no  land  till  he  came  to  that  where 
Cathay  is,  is  infinitely  disappointed  at  this  sight.  The  coast  of 
Greenland  where  we  have  arrived  coming  direct  from  Iceland 
trends  to  the  north,  precisely  as  Ramusio  expresses  it  ;  and  Cabot 
returns  along  the  coast  to  see  if  he  can  find  a  gulf  to  change  the  direc- 
tion. But  after  a  long  stretch  of  land  the  coast  of  Greenland  turns 
to  the  north-east :  wherefore  Cabot,  according  to  Ramusio,  see- 
ing that  the  coast  turned  eastivards,  in  despair  of  finding  a  gulf,  turns 
back.  Here  every  thing  fits  into  Ramusio's  account  ;  the  only 
variance  is  as  to  the  point  where  the  land  turns  to  the  east ;  for 
Ramusio  says  it  is  at  56°,  while  Greenland  shows  it  to  be  at  66°, 
just  where  great  masses  of  ice  float  in  the  sea,  and  the  day  is  almost 
continuous,  as  D'  Anghiera  says. 


*  Placido  Zurla,  Di  Marco  Polo  e  degli  altriViaggiatoriVeneziani piu  illustri, 
vol.  ii,  p.  278.  Venezia;  Fuchs,  1818.  True,  Zurla  confounds  the  present  voy- 
age with  that  made  in  1516,  but  that  takes  nothing  from  the  acuteuess  of  his 
view  in  resard  to  this  particular. 


104  THE  LIFE  OP  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

After  this,  can  we  hesitate  to  correct  the  56°  of  Ramusio 
by  substituting  66°  as  proposed  by  Zurla  ? 

With  these  matters  cleared  up,  the  course  ana  plan  of  Se- 
bastian Cabot  seem  to  me  to  become  plain  enough. 

The  historian  cannot,  like  the  romancer,  give  free  flight  to 
his  fancy,  but,  if  he  could,  what  things  he  would  have  to 
think  and  to  say  of  that  "infinite  disappointment,"  and 
that  "despair"  with  which  Cabot  in  the  narrative  of  Anony- 
mous pictures  his  state  of  mind  when  he  saw  the  land  betray 
his  forecast  and  hope,  and  he  was  compelled  to  decide  on 
going  back  !  Those  masses  of  ice  and  that  almost  perpet- 
ual day  can  make  no  great  impression  on  us,  accustomed  as 
we  are  to  so  many  tales  of  navigation  in  the  polar  seas, 
and  tolerably  acquainted  with  the  lay  of  the  land  and  the 
character  of  the  country  ;  but  facing  Cabot  and  his  compan- 
ions there  was  the  dread  of  the  unknown.  How  far  would  that 
land  extend  ?  and  where  would  it  end  ?  Would  it  leave  some 
passage  open  ?  or  would  it  continue  without  a  break  till 
it  joined  on  to  Norway  shutting  in  the  whole  sea  ?  This  ap- 
prehension of  a  continuous  extension  of  American  territory 
till  it  united  with  the  northern  regions  of  Europe  may  seem 
strange  to  us  with  oui  knowledge  of  the  geography,  but 
it  was  most  natural  it  should  present  itself  to  Sebastian 
Cabot's  mind.  So  true  is  this,  that  the  XVI  century  was  half 
over  and  the  question  whether  North  America  joined  Norway 
or  left  open  a  passage  by  sea,  was  still  vexing  the  minds 
of  geographical  historians.  "Why,"  wrote  Ramusio  in  1550, 
"have  the  Princes  not  been  able  to  make  discoveries  to  the  North 
where  the  land  of  Labrador  is,  and  ascertain  whether  it  joins 
Norway,  or  there  is  water  there  ?"*  Another  thought,  not  less 
harrowing,  presented  itself  to  Cabot's  mind.  For,  even  if  there 
should  be  an  open  sea  there,  if  these  enormous  masses  of 
floating  ice  rendered  navigation  difficult  and  dangerous  in 
the  middle  of  July,    what   would    it   be   when    the    season 


*  "Perche  non  potevan  gli  Principi.  .  .  .far.  .  .  .discoprir  verso  tramontana 
dove  e  la  terra  del  Lavoratore,  et  veder  se  ella  si  congiunge  con  la  Norvegia, 
over  se  vi  &  mare ....  V'Raccolta,  vol.  i,  p.  414.  B. 


HIS  DISAPPOINTMENT.  105 

was  more  advanced  and  they  sailing  further  north  ?  "Seeing 
that  the  coast  turned  eastwards,  in  despair  of  finding  any  gulf 
to  change  the  direction  he  went  back  to  explore  the  same 
coast  on  the  side  towards  the  south,  still  with  the  hope  of 
finding  a  passage  to  the  Indies  ;  and  he  went  as  far  as  what 
at  present  they  call  Florida."* 

Another  difficulty  meets  us  here.  If  Sebastian  Cabot  came 
to  the  coast  of  Greenland  and  from  there  sailed  down  as  far 
as  Florida,  looking  for  an  opening,  how  did  he  happen  not  to 
enter  the  broad  gulf  which  opens  between  Greenland  and  Lab- 
rador ?  The  most  natural  answer  to  this  question  seems  to  me, 
that  he  supposed  the  new  land  seen  on  this  voyage  was  the 
continuation  of  what  he  had  seen  the  year  before  and  sailed 
along  its  coast  for  300  leagues  ;  and  that  so  supposing,  he  did 
not  sail  close  to  the  shore  from  the  point  he  had  reached 
in  Greenland,  but  to  save  time,  he  took  the  course,  with  his 
ships,  straight  for  Labrador,  and  so  did  not  observe  the  broad 
gulf  which  he  left  on  his  right.  However,  with  such  dearth  of 
information  we  cannot  pretend  to  reconstruct  the  whole  course 
of  his  navigations  :  it  is  much  if  we  succeed  in  fixing  a  point 
here  and  there.  Peter  Martyr  D'Anghiera  to  indicate  the  place 
where  Cabot  stopped  his  exploration,  uses  these  words  :  ''He 
proceeded  so  far  south  as  to  reach  nearly  the  latitude  of  the 
Strait  of  Gibraltar,  and  so  far  west  as  to  leave  Cuba  on  his  left 
and  nearly  in  the  same  meridian. "f 

The  precise  indication  given  by  Petei  Martyr  of  the  lat- 
itude as  the  same  as  that  of  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar,  leaves  no 
doubt  that  the  most  southern  point  reached  by  Cabot  must  be 
placed  along  the  shore  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  If  Ramusio's 
Anonymous  mentions  Florida  as  the  extreme  point,  it  is  be- 

*  "  Vedendo  dunque  che  la  costa  voltava  verso  levante,  disperato  di  trovare 
un  qualche  golfo  che  voltasse,  se  ne  tornd  a  dietro  a  riconoscere  ancorala  detta 
costa  dalla  parte  verso  1'  equinoziale  sempre  con  intenzione  di  trovar  passaggio 
alle  Indie  ;  e  venne  sino  a  quella  che  chiamauo  al  presente  Florida."  Ramusio. 
See  App.  xix. 

f'Tetenditque  tantum  ad  meridiem,  littore  sese  incurvante,  ut  Hcrculei  fretus 
latitudinis  fere  gradus  aequarit  :  ad  occidentemque  profectus  tantum  est,  Cu- 
bam  insulam  a  leva  longitudine  graduum  pene  parem  habuerit."— App.  N. 
xviii. 


106  THE  LIFE  OP  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

cause  nothing  was  at  that  time  known  of  the  extent  of  that  pen- 
insula to  the  Northwards,  and  it  was  very  easy  to  make  a  mis- 
take and  include  under  that  name  not  only  the  peninsula 
proper,  but  also  the  coast  region  of  Georgia  and  the  Oarolinas.* 
Arriving  at  the  Chesapeake  he  was  obliged  to  return  to  Eng- 
land for  want  of  provisions.!  Did  the  colonization,  which 
we  said  was  one  of  the  purposes  of  the  expedition,  take  place  ? 
That  besides  the  discovery  of  new  lands  colonization  was  also 
intended,  is  clearly  stated  in  the  documents.  In  the  first 
place,  the  number  of  three  hundred  persons  embarked  on  the 
ships  is  too  great  for  a  mere  expedition  of  discovery,  and  can 
only  be  explained  on  the  idea  of  a  colonization  :  and  the 
words  of  Pasqualigo  in  his  letter,  "These  English  follow  him 
like  fools,  but  let  as  many  as  he  can  get,  and  even  some  of  our 
knaves  too,  go  with  him/'J  can  have  no  other  meaning  than 
this,  of  a  colonization.  The  same  sense  must  be  given  to  the 
words  of  the  second  patent  giving  permission  to  leave  to  "all 
suche  maisters,  maryners,  pages,  and  our  subjects  as  of  their 
owen  free  wille  woll  goo  and  passe  with  hym  in  the  same 
shippes  to  the  seid  Lande  or  Iles."§ 

Still  more  definite  is  Gomara's  account  which  says  :  "He 
promised  King  Henry  to  go  to  Cathay  by  the  north,  and 
bring  spices  from  there  in  less  time  than  the  Portuguese  by 
the  south.  He  went  also  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
what  sort  of  lands  the  Indies  would  be  for  peopling  :  he  took  with 
him  three  hundred  men."|| 

Finally,  Soncino  in  so  many  words  says  that  it  was  intended 
to  found  a  colony.  "It  is  reported  that  the  said  majesty  will 
soon  fit  out  some  ships  and  moreover  will  give  them  all  the 
criminals,  and  they  will  go  to  found  a  colony  in  that  country, 

*  L.  Hughes,  1.  c.  p.  257. 

f  "Et  mancandomi  gi&  la  vettovaglia,  presi  partito  di  ritornarmene  in  Inghil- 
terra."— Ramusio,  App.  xix. 

X  "  Sti  Ioglesi  li  vano  driedi  a  modo  pazi  e  pur  ne  volese  tanti  quanti  n'avrebbe 
con  lui,  et  etiam  molti  dei  nostri  furfanti."  See  App.  xi. 

§  App.  xiv. 

I  "I  prometio  al  rey  Enrique  de  yr  por  el  norte  al  Cataio  y  traer  de  alia  especias 
en  menos  tiempo  que  Portugueses,  por  el  sur.  Y  va  tambien  por  saber  que 
herraeran  las  Indias  para  poblar.  Llevo  trezientos  fa  ombres."  See  App  xxi 


INTENDED  COLONIZATION.  107 

by  which  means  they  hope  to  do  a  larger  business  in  spices 
at  London  than  is  done  at  Alexandria."  *  There  was  then 
undoubtedly  an  intention  of  colonizing  the  new  lands.  What 
came  of  it  we  know  not.  It  is  supposed  that  an  attempt  at 
colonization  was  made  in  the  land  of  Labrador,  and  Gomara 
seems  to  give  good  grounds  for  this  supposition  when  he  says 
that  Cabot  made  a  stop  at  the  land  of  the  Bacallaos.f  It  would 
also  seem  to  be  confirmed  by  what  the  Venetian  ambassador 
to  Portugal,  Piefcro  Pasqualigo  wrote  on  October  19,  1501,  to 
his  brothers,  on  the  return  of  Gaspar  Cortereal's  expedition, 
only  eleven  days  after  it  entered  the  Portuguese  harbors:  "They 
have  brought  here  VII,  between  men  and  women  and  boys.... 
in  their  land  they  have  no  iron  ;  but  they  make  knives  out  of 
some  stones  ;  and  likewise  heads  of  arrows.  And  they  have 
also  brought  from  there  a  piece  of  a  broken  gilt  sword  which  cer- 
tainly appears  to  have  been  made  in  Italy  :  one  of  the  boys  had 
in  his  ears  two  silver  rings  which  seem  without  doubt  to  havo 
been  made  at  Venice"*  True,  Pasqualigo  refers  in  his 
letter  to  another  voyage  made  by  Cortereal  the  year  before,  §■ 
and  so  the  articles  from  Europe  found  in  the  possession  of 
those  savages  might  have  come  from  his  own  ships  on 
the  previous  expedition  ;  but  as  Cortereal  in  1501  went 
further  north  than  the  land  he  discovered  the  year  before, 
and  consequently  nearer  to  the  English  discoveries,  and  all 
those  articles  were  of  Venetian,  and  not  Portuguese  manufact- 


*"A  tempo  novo  se  dice  che  la  Maesta  prefata  armara  alcuni  navilij,et  ulira 
li  dar&  tutti  li  malfattori  et  andarano  in  quello  paese  a  fare  una  colon ia,  medi- 
ante  la  quale  sperano  de  fare  in  Londres  maggior  fondaco  de  speciarie  che  sia 
in  Alexandria."  App.  xiii. 

f  "Rehaziendose  en  los  Baccalaos.  App.  xxi. 

%  "Hanno  conducti  qui  vii,  tra  homini  et  feraene  et  putti  dequelli.  .  .  .nella 
terra  loro  non  hanno  ferro  ;  ma  fanno  cortelli  de  alcune  pietre  ;  et  similmente 
ponte  de  f  reze.  Et  quilli  anchora  hanno  porta  de  la  uno  pezo  de  spada  rotta  do- 
rata  laqual  certo  par  facta  in  Italia:  uno  putto  de  questi  haveva  ale  orechia  dui 
iodini  de  arzento,  che  senza  dubbio  pareno  stafacti  a  Venetia."  This  letter  is 
printed  in  a  book,  now  very  rare,  published  at  Vicenza  in  1507,  under  the  title, 
"Paesi  novamente  retrovati  et  novo  mondo  da  Alberico  Vesputio  Florentino 
intitulato." 

§"Credono  che  sia  terra  ferma  la  qual  continua  in  un'  altra  terra  che  lanopas* 
sato,  fo  discoperta  sotto  la  tramontasa."  lb. 


108  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

ure,  it  would  seem  more  natural  to  suppose  they  came  from 
the  ships  of  Cabot,  who,  as  a  Venetian  and  sailing  from  a  city 
where  there  was  a  most  flourishing  colony  of  Venetian  mer- 
chants, would  obviously  have  carried  many  articles  imported 
from  his  own  city  and  by  his  own  countrymen. 

The  asperity  of  the  climate  probably  rendered  the  attempt 
abortive.  But  the  climate  was  not  likely  to  be  the  main  con- 
sideration :  many  more  persons  than  had  been  counted  on 
having  remained  on  board  of  the  vessels  probably  caused  a 
diminution  of  provisions,  which  prevented  Cabot  from  further 
exploring  the  southern  coast,  for  the  ships  being  furnished 
with  a  year's  supply  it  is  hard  to  understand  how  they 
should  have  run  short  in  three  or  four  months.* 

And  here,  since  we  have  got  back  to  speaking  of  Labrador  a- 
gain,  I  will  give  somewhat  in  detail  the  only  record  which  re- 
mains of  this  voyage  :  and  perhaps  the  reader  will  not  be  sorry 
to  take  a  little  breath  after  the  tiresome  journey  he  has  been 
making  amongst  notes  and  discussions.  Moreover  the  brief  epi- 
sode I  shall  relate  belongs  partly  to  the  domain  of  history,  for  it 
was  the  origin  of  the  name  Tierra  de  Bachallaos  being  then 
given  to  what  was  afterwards,  as  it  is  now,  called  Labrador. f 
Peter  Martyr  has  preserved  it  for  us,  and  it  relates  to 
bears'  fishing. 

He  relates,  then,  that  the  place  was  wonderfully  full  of 

*  "  El  Rey.  .  .  .embio  cinco  naos  ....  fueron  proveydos  por  un  ano." 

Puebia,   App.   xv. — "fueron   avitallados  pour   un    ano."  Ayala, 

App.  xvi. 

Andre  Thevet  says  positively  that  Sebastitin  Cabot  landed  full  three  hun- 
dred men,  but  they  nearly  all  died  of  the  cold,  although  it  was  in  the  month 
of  July."Vray  est,  qu'il  mist  bien  troiscens  hommes  en  terre  du  coste  d'Irlande 
au  nort  ou  It:  froid  fist  mourir  presque  toute  sa  compagnie  encore  que  ce  fust 
au  moys  de  juillet".  (  App.  xxiv).  But  his  testimony  is  too  open  to  sus- 
picion, for  he  gets  his  information  concerning  Cabot  at  second  hand,  and  it  is 
certainly  not  for  his  care  in  collecting  it  that  ho  merits  praise.  We  have  an 
immediate  proof  of  this  in  the  very  surname  of  Cabot  which  he  shamefully 
distorts  by  calling  him  Babate.  And  here,  without  doubt,  in  speaking  of  the 
attempted  colonization  he  commits  the  mistake  of  taking  for  colonists  the 
whol^  three  hundred  who  sailed  in  tho  ships  of  the  expedition. 

t  Biddle,  on  page  246,  says  that  the  name  of  Labrador  (Laborer)  was  in- 
vented by  Cortereal  and  the  Portuguese  slavo-merchants  to  indicate  that  this 
Northera  coast  produced  men  wonderfully  fitted  for  labor. 


FAILURE  OF  THE  COLONY.  109 

bears  that  were  harmless  to  men,  and  the)7  always  saw  a  num- 
ber of  them  seated  on  the  shore  awaiting  game.  The  sea  in 
front  swarmed  with  big  fishes  so  closely  packed  together  that 
at  times  it  was  difficult  for  vessels  to  force  a  way  through  them,* 
and  in  gliding  hither  and  thither  in  their  play  they  some- 
times got  into  shallow  water  near  the  beach.  Then  the 
bears,  which  had  lain  in  wait  on  the  bank  with  an  eye  always 
fixed  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  sprang  into  the  sea.  Their 
sudden  appearance  and  the  splash  in  the  water,  with  their 
furious  bounding  to  one  side  and  the  other,  put  the  happy 
shoal  of  fishes  in  great  trouble  and  disorder.  In  their  confu- 
sion and  anxiety  to  get  into  deep  water,  they  swam  against 
and  interfered  with  each  other,  and  hindered  their  escape,  so 
that  the  bears  were  able  to  pounce  upon  them  and  fix  their 
strong  claws  between  their  scales.  Then  followed  the  strangest 
and  most  beautiful  contest.  The  fish  made  every  effort  to 
free  himself  from  the  clutch  that  held  him  fast,  and  struggling, 
turning,  sliding  in  every  direction,  raised  around  him  a  cloud 
of  spray,  within  which  in  transparent  coloring  was  seen  the 
enormous  beast  of  a  bear  pulled  this  way  and  that,  now  under 
and  now  above  the  water,  but  always  hanging  on  to  his  prey 
till  the  fish,  his  strength  exhausted,  and  overcome  with  pain,, 
gave  up  entirely  and  the  bear's  victory  was  complete.  Then  he 
drew  the  fish  to  the  bank,  where  extended  at  full  ease  on  the 
sand,  he  made  a  most  savory  repast.  Our  navigators  were  pres- 
ent at  one  of  these  contests  and  enjoyed  it  greatly,  and  while  it 
lasted  their  laughter  and  shouts  from  the  ships  made  accom- 
paniment to  the  various  turnings  of  the  battle,  and  hailed 
the  final  triumph. 

The  indigenes,  questioned  by  signs,  made  known  that  they 
called  these  fishes  Baccalao,  and  from  this  word  Cabot  named 
the  land  in  front  of  him  the  Land  of  the  Baccalaos  (Codfish )."f 

*  "Ut  etiam  ill!  navigia  interdum  detirdarent."  Peter  Martyr,  dec.  iii,  lib.  vi. 

f  "Bacaliaos  Cabottus  ipse  terras  illas  appellavit,  e<>  quod  in  eorum  pdago  tan- 
tain  repererit  magnorum  quorumdam  piscium,  tinnos  aemulantium  sic  vocatorum 
ab  indigenis,  multitudinem,  ut  etiam  illi  navigia  interdum  retardarent."  Pietro 
Martire,  ib. 


110  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT 


CHAPTER  IX 

A  Period  of  Obscurity- 

The  news  of  the  bad  result  of  the  enterprise  must  have 
been  most  unpleasant  for  the  English,  and  their  dejection 
upon  its  return  equal  to  the  enthusiasm  on  its  departure  the 
year  before.  It  was  like  passing  suddenly  from  the  bright- 
ness of  the  noonday  sun  to  midnight  darkness.  What  a  load 
of  criticism,  ridicule,  and  invective  must  have  been  heaped 
on  the  young  Sebastian,  who  had  succeeded  his  father  in  the 
command  of  the  expedition  !  For,  without  doubt,  those  who 
had  promoted  and  aided  the  expedition  threw  the  blame  of 
its  want  of  success  on  the  too  great  want  of  age  and  ex- 
perience on  the  part  of  its  leader.  There  must  have  been  great 
lament  for  the  loss  of  John,  whose  bravery  and  experience 
would  in  their  opinion  have  secured  a  happy  issue  of  the 
undertaking.  From  this  general  feeling  the  poor  young 
man's  reputation  must  have  received  a  blow  that  caused  him 
to  disappear  wholly  from  view,  and  fourteen  years  passed  be- 
fore he  reappears  openly  shining  in  the  light  of  day. 

In  the  discourse  of  Sebastian  Cabot  reported  by  Ramusio's 
Anonymous,  he  says  that  upon  returning  to  England,  he 
found  great  commotions  of  the  people  aroused  and  war,  and 
that  there  was  no  further  thought  of  navigating  the  northern 
seas,  and  therefore  he  left  that  country  to  seek  better  fortune 
elsewhere.*  In  those  words  he,  no  doubt,  alludes  to  the  vari- 
ous attempts  of  the  pretended  Duke  of  York  to  wrest  from 
Henry  VII  the  sceptre  lost  by  the  House  whose  name  he  had 
assumed;  to  the  support  which  James  IV  of  Scotland  gavejiis 


".  .  .  .presi  partito  di   ritornarmene  in  Inghilterra,  dove  giunto   trovai 
grandissimi  tumulti  di  popoli  sollevati  et  della  guerra  in  Scotia  . .  ."  App.  xix. 


1498  to  1512.  HI 

pretensions  in  open  war;  and  to  the  repeated  rising  of  the 
people  in  Cornwall,  driven  to  despair  by  the  excessive  burdens 
imposed  on  them  and  the  cruelty  of  those  who  were  employed 
to  collect  the  payments.*  But  it  was  not  on  his  return  that 
all  these  events  disturbed  England,  nor  were  they  all  at  once  ; 
they  did  not  last  long,  and  victory  always  smiled  without 
much  difficulty  on  Henry's  arms.  Fourteen  years  passed  be- 
tween his  return  from  the  voyage  and  his  going  to  Spain,  so 
that  these  disturbances  could  not  be  called  the  direct  cause  of 
his  leaving  England.  Neither  is  it  strictly  true  that  there 
was  no  further  thought  of  navigation  in  search  of  new  lands 
and  seas  ;  for  some,  even  though  few,  undertakings  of  this 
nature  are  recorded.  In  Sebastian's  words,  then,  rather  than 
the  expression  of  his  precise  motive,  we  have  the  sad  echo  of 
what  in  that  long  interval  passed  in  his  mind,  when  the  idea 
of  discovery  was  greatly  exciting  his  thoughts,  and  he  beheld 
the  possibility  of  carrying  out  his  plans  continually  put  off  by 
the  disorders  that  disturbed  Henry's  reign. 

But  during  that  long  period  of  fourteen  years,  did  he  re- 
main a  calm  spectator  of  events,  waiting  patiently  for  times 
more  favorable  to  his  ideas  ?  Even  if  we  were  told  so,  we 
could  not  believe  it.  A  man  who  in  early  youth  had  given 
such  vigorous  proofs  of  activity,  and  whom  again  in  mature 
life,  and  on  to  extreme  old  age,  we  find  most  extraordinarily 
active,  it  is  not  possible  that  in  the  most  vigorous  period  of 
life,  when  even  the  least  inclined  to  work  feel  at  times  the 
desire  and  necessity  of  moving,  acting,  stirring  at  some 
thing,  should  remain  calmly  idle  ;  it  is  contrary  to  nature. 
But  what  did  he  do  ? 

Biddle,  at  this  place,  cites  a  book  of  historical  and  topograph- 
ical notices  of  the  City  of  Bristol,  which,  under  the  year 
1499,  quotes  from  an  old  almanac  of  that  city,  the  following 
passage  :  "This  yeare,  Sebastian  Cabot  borne  in  Bristol,  prof- 
fered his  service  to  King  Henry  for  discovering  new  contries  ; 
which  had  noe  greate  or  favorable  entertainment  of  the  King,  but 
he  with  no  extraordinary  preparation  set  fort  from  Bristol,  and 


*  Hume's  History  of  England,  ch.  xxv  and  xxvi. 


112  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

made  greate  discoveries. "*It  is  superfluous  to  remark  how  little 
reliance  can  be  placed  on  the  testimony  of  almanacs;  nor  does 
the  ingenious  American  attach  any  importance  to  it,  in  an 
absolute  way,  especially  as  the  chronicler  shows  clearly  by  the 
last  words  that  he  refers  to  one  of  Cabot's  other  voyages  ;  yet 
all  erroneous  as  it  is,  Biddle  thinks  he  can  obtain  from  it  a 
gleam  of  light  amid  the  obscurity  of  those  years.  Cabot  had 
broken  off  his  exploration  of  the  American  coast  for  want  of 
provisions;  and  he  must  naturally  have  wished  to  resume  it  at 
the  point  wdiere  he  had  left  off,  until  he  found  the  wished-for 
strait.  It  would  therefore  seem  very  likely  that  he  was  apply- 
ing to  the  King,  proposing  new  plans  for  resuming  the  under- 
taking, and  that  the  King  did  not  look  favorably  on  his  pro- 
posals :  very  likely  that  Cabot  was  treating  not  only  with 
the  crown,  but  with  private  individuals  to  form  a  company 
for  a  new  attempt,  but  found  the  door  shut  on  this  side  also; 
that  then  urged  by  the  interior  force  that  led  him  to  resume 
the  sea,  he  got  together  a  small  expedition  from  his  own 
means,  and  in  some  sort  of  a  vessel  which  he  was  able  to  fit  out, 
rushed  again  into  adventures  on  the  unknown  path  ;  which 
would  very  well  agree  with  what  the  almanac  says  :  "with  no 
extraordinary  preparation  set  forth  from  Bristol." 

This  supposition  corresponds  very  well  with  what  Navarrete 
relates  of  Ojeda  :  "It  is  certain  that  on  his  first  voyage  he  found 
some  Englishmen  in  the  vicinity  of  Coquibacoa.  "f  Ojeda 
sailed  from  Spain  May  25,  1499,  and  was  absent  only  one 
year4  Therefore  the  dates  of  Cabot's  departure  from  Bristol 
and  Ojeda's  from  Spain  would  very  well  permit  the  meeting 
mentioned  of  the  English  and  Spaniards.  If  Navarrete's  in- 
formation is  correct,  there  is  every  probability  that  these  Eng- 
lish were  led  by  Sebastian  Cabot  as  the  only  man  in  England 
at  that  time  who  was  capable  of  conducting  such  expedition  : 


*  From  Seyer  "Memoirs  historical  and  Topographical  of  Bristol  and  its 
Neighbourhood,"  p   258.    Biuule,  Memoirs,  Bk.  i,  p.  91,  92. 

f  "  Lo  cierto  es  que  Hojeda  en  su  primer  viage  hallo  a  ciertos  Iugleses  por 
las  inmediacioues  de  Coquibacoa."  Navarrete,  iii,  p.  41.  Coquibacoa  is  on 
the  Gulf  of  Maracaibo,  on  the  northern  coast  of  Venezuela. 

X  Navarrete,  ib. 


OTHER  ENGLISH  VOYAGES.  113 

this  is  so  true  that  when  two  years  later  a  new  expedition  was 
planned  the  Portuguese  were  called  on  to  direct  it. 

These  Portuguese  were  three,  John  and  Francis  Fernandes, 
and  John  Gonsalvez,  gentlemen  from  the  Azores  ;  with  them 
were  associated  three  merchants  of  Bristol,  Richard  Warde, 
Thomas  Ashurst,  and  John  Thomas.  Their  patent,  dated 
March  19,  1501,  is  substantially  the  same  as  usually  given 
for  such  undertakings,  and  does  not  require  to  be  particu- 
larly considered.  Only  one  thing  in  it  is  necessary  to  observe, 
this  is  that  the  English  monarch  in  granting  to  the  three 
Portuguese  a  monopoly  of  trade  with  the  newly-discovered 
countries,  covertly,  but  with  clear  meaning,  refers  to  the  former 
concessions  made  to  John  Cabot  and  his  sons,  to  deprive 
them  of  all  force  and  authority  contrary  to  the  privileges  now 
granted  to  the  three  Portuguese  and  their  associates.  Not- 
withstanding, says  the  decree,  the  pretensions  any  foreigner 
or  foreigners  may  set  up  under  pretext  or  color  of  former 
grants.* 

Nothing  is  known,  or  is  for  our  purpose  important  to  know, 
of  the  result  of  their  enterprise.  But  one  should  be  glad  to 
know  the  reason  why  Sebastian  Cabot's  name  is  not  men- 
tioned. Biddle  attributes  it  to  his  being  absent  on  the 
American  coast,  again  following  up  his  explorations. f  But  if 
Henry  consented  to  the  request  of  these  Portuguese,  why 
should  he  not  have  listened  to  Cabot's  ?  It  can  only  be  be- 
cause he  asked  for  aid  as  well  as  authorization  ;  whereas  the 
three  Portuguese  declared  they  assumed  all  the  risk  of  their  un- 
dertaking ;  and  not  only  assured  to  the  Crown  a  portion  of  the 
eventual  profits  of  their  discoveries,  but  agreed  after  ten  years 
to  cede  all  rights  they  might  have  to  them,  and  leave  England 
their  absolute  owner 4 


*  "  Et  quod  nullus  ex  subditis  nostris  eos  eorum  aliquem  de  et  super  posses- 
sion et  titulo  suis  de  et  ex  dictis  terris  firrais,  insulis  et  provinciis  se  aliqualiter 
contra  voluntatem  suam  expellat  quovis  modo  seu  aliquis  extraneus  aut  aliqui 
extranet  virtute  aut  colore  alicuiiis  concessionis  nostrae  sibi  Magno  Sigillo  Nostro 
per  anteafactae."  Rymer,  Foedera,  T.  V.  P.  iv,  p.  186. 

t  Biddle,  1.  c.  p.  76. 

V*  .  •  .  .  concessimus  et  licentiam  dedimus  ....   Ricardo  Warde,   Tbomse 

8 


114  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

We  find  another  grant  signed  by  Henry  VII  on  the  9th  of 
December.  1502,  in  favor  of  Hugh  Elliot,  Thomas  Ashurst, 
merchants,  of  Bristol;  and  John  Gonsalvez  and  Francis  Fer- 
nandes,  Portuguese  ;*  but  we  only  make  this  mention  of  it 
to  prove  that  Sebastian  Cabot's  expression  that  "there  was  no 
further  thought  of  navigating  the  northern  seas"  was  not  cor- 
rect. England  had  her  eye  always  on  the  benefits  to  be  pro- 
cured from  these  discoveries ;  but  Henry's  enormous  avarice 
prevented  his  taking  a  direct  part  in  them,  though  he  did  not 
refuse  the  work  of  others  so  long  as  they  took  all  the  risks, 
and  divided  the  profits. 

Moreover,  the  connection  between  England  and  the  new 
lands  was  never  broken  off.  A  sure  proof  of  this  are  the 
notes  of  presents  found  from  time  to  time  in  King  Henry's 
book  of  expenses,  presents  always  worthy  of  his  superlative 
avarice,  but  showing  nevertheless  that  he  paid  some  attention 
to  the  affairs  of  these  new  possessions.  Thus  we  find  on  Jan- 
uary 7,  1502,  a  note  of  the  expense  of  five  pounds  to  some 
men  from  Bristol  who  went  to  these  places  ;  September  30, 

1503,  thirty  pounds  to  Bristol  merchants  who  had  been  in 
the  same  parts  ;  November  17,  the  same  year,  one  pound  to 
one  who  had  brought  some  hawks  from  there  ;  and  April  8, 

1504,  two  pounds  to  a  priest  going  to  the  New  Land  ;  and 
September  (?)  25,  1505,  five  pounds  sterling  to  some  Portu- 
guese who  had  brought  him  cats  and  popinjays  from  there. f 


Asshurst,  et  Johanni  Thomas,  mercatoribus  villa?  nostrse  Bristollia?  ac  dilectis 
nobis  Johanni  Ferdinandus,  Francisco  Fernaudus,  et  Johanni  Gunsolus,  ar- 
migeris  in  iusulis  de  Surrys  sub  obediencia  Regis  Portugallife  oriuudis  .  ... 
uavigandi  et  se  transferendi  ad  omnes  partes   sub  banneris  et  insigniis  nostris 

ad  custus  et  onera  dicti  Bicardi  et   aliorum  pradictorum,  vadiis  et 

stipendiis  prout  inter  eos  poterunt  concordare  ad  inveniendum."  Rymer,  ib. 

*  Rymer,  Foedera,  L.  xiii.  p.  37. 

t  "1502.  Jan.  7.  To  men  of  Bristoll  that  founde  Thisle. . .  .L.  5. 

"  1503.  Sept.  30.  To  the  merchants  of  Bristoll  that  ave  bene  in  the  Newefounde 
Launde,  L.  20. 

"  1503.  Nov.  17.  To  one  that  brought  hawkes  from  the  Newfounded  Island. 
1L. 

"  1504.  April  8.   To  a  preste  that  goeth  to  the  new  Ilande,  L.  2. 

"  1505.  Sept.  (?)  25.  To  portyngales  that  brought  popyngais  and  catts  of  the 
mountaigne  with  other  Stuf  to  the  Kinges  grace,  L,  5." 


Spain's  jealousy.  115 

Every  thing,  then,  confirms  what  we  said,  that  Sebastian 
Cabot's  complaint  is  not  so  much  the  pure  truth  as  the  ex- 
pression of  his  bitter  disappointment  at  the  reception  his  pro- 
posals met  with  ;  a  disappointment  all  the  greater  that  he 
saw  others,  supplied  with  means  that  were  wanting  to  him, 
freely  passing  over  the  seas  which  he  and  his  father  had  dis- 
covered. 

Under  the  year  1502,  Stow  quotes  from  Fabyan's  chronicle 
as  follows:  "(18  Henr.  VII.  A.  D.  1502).  Thys  yeare,  were 
brought  unto  the  Kyng  three  men  taken  in  the  new  founde  I- 
lands  by  Sebastian  Gaboto  before  named  in  anno  1468  (sic), 
these  men  were  clothed  in  Beastes  skinnes,  and  eat  raw  flesh, 
but  spake  such  a  language  as  no  man  could  understand  them, 
of  the  which  three  men,  two  of  them  were  seene  in  the  King's 
court  at  Westminster  two  years  after,  clothed,  like  Englishmen, 
and  could  not  be  discerned  from  Englishemen."*  Hakluyt  also 
speaks  of  these  three  savages  and  quotes  Fabyan's  chron- 
icle, but  does  not  agree  with  Stow  as  to  the  date.  In  the  first 
collection  of  1582,  instead  of  the  18th  year  of  Henry  VII,  he 
has  the  17th.  But  here,  as  Hakluyt  puts  the  date  in  Roman 
numerals,  the  difference  may  have  been  the  fault  of  the  prin- 
ter who  may  have  carelessly  put  XVII  for  XVIII.  But  in 
the  second  edition  of  the  greater  collection,  1599 — 1600,  the 
same  fact  is  related  under  the  14th  year  of  Henry's  reign  ;  and 
if  Stow's  account  is  correct,  we  have  here  another,  and  a  very 
strong  proof  that  Sebastian  Cabot  resumed  his  discoveries  af- 
ter the  expedition  of  1498.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  Hakluyt's 
correction  in  his  second  collection  is  right,  the  proof  vanishes, 
for  their  coming  would  coincide  exactly  with  the  return  of 
the  expedition  of  1498.  As  we  have  nothing  by  which  to  set- 
tle either  date,  all  that  we  can  do  is  to  mention  the  matter 
and  pass  on. 


Excerpta  historica.  Privy  purse  expenses  of  Henry  VII.  p.  126, 130,  131,133. 
*  Stow,  Chronicle,  London,  1580.  p.  875. 


116  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Sebastian  Cabot  passes  to  the  service  of  Spain. 

Spain  watched  the  English  discoveries  with  jealous  eye,  and 
did  her  best  to  put  obstacles  and  impediments  in  their  way. 
When  in  July  1500,  Alonzo  de  Ojeda  was  sent  out  as  Governor 
of  Coquibacoa,  the  decree  appointing  him  says  :  "you  will  fol- 
low and  explore  the  coast  you  discovered,  which  runs  appar- 
ently from  east  to  west,  because  it  extends  to  the  part  where 
it  is  known  that  the  English  have  made  discoveries,  and  you 
are  to  place  marks,  as  you  go,  with  their  Highnesses'  arms 
or  other  known  signs,  as  you  think  best,  to  show  that  you  dis- 
covered that  land,  and  so  cut  off  the  English  discoveries  in 
that  direction."! 

The  great  danger  for  Spain  was  that  England,  besides  ex- 
tending her  discoveries  to  new  lands,  might  succeed  in  finding 
a  passage  to  Asia  north  of  the  land  already  discovered,  through 
which  most  of  the  benefits  anticipated  from  the  commerce 
with  Cathay  would  be  transferred  to  the  English  market. 
This  danger  was  not  greatly  to  be  feared  during  the  reign  of 
Henry  VII,  because  his  extraordinary  penuriousness  left  the 
whole  burden  of  these  undertakings  to  the  initiative  of  private 
individuals  who  bore  all  the  expense,  and  with  no  other  im- 
pulse they  necessarily  went  on  very  slowly,  and  so  feebly  that 
they  were  on  the  point  of  expiring.  But  the  miserly  and  vacillat- 
ing Henry  VII  was  succeeded  by  Henry  VIII,  a  munificent  and 


*"Jtem:  que  vaes  e  sisiais  aquella  costa  que  descubristes  se  cone  leste-vuest, 
segun  parece,  por  razon  que  vahacia  la  parte  donde  86  ha  sabido  que  descubrian 
los  Jngleses  e  vais  poniendo  las  marcas  con  las  armas  de  SS.  A.  A.  o  con 
otros  senales  que  sean  conocidos,  quales  vos  pareciere  :  porque  se  conozca 
como  vos  habeis  clescubierto  aquella  tierra,  para  que  atages  el  descubrir  de  los 
Ingleses  por  aquella  via.  ..."  Navarrete,  Tomo  fii,  p.  86. 


HH  ARRIVES  IN  SPAIN.  117 

bold  young  man  who  found  himself  in  possession  of  his  father's 
hoarded  treasures.*  For  the  moment  the  impetuousness 
of  youth  incited  him  to  military  glory,  and  immediately 
he  took  part  in  the  wars  raging  on  the  Continent,  allying 
himself  with  Ferdinand  King  of  Spain,  whose  daughter  he  had 
married.  But  who  can  answer  for  the  future  ?  The  astute  Ferdi- 
nand thought  it  best  to  take  steps  to  prevent  danger  and  while 
the  English  Monarch  was  so  well  disposed,  quietly  deprive  him 
of  the  principal  arm  he  might  some  day  use  against  him.  This 
arm  was  Sebastian  Cabot. 

The  alliance  referred  to  between  King  Ferdinand  of  Spain 
and  the  youthful  Henry  VIII  of  England  was  directed  against 
Louis  XII  King  of  France.  By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  con- 
cluded between  the  two  sovereigns  November  7,  1511,  it  was 
agreed  that  the  King  of  England  should  land  6000  men  in 
Aquitaine,  and  the  Spaniard  towards  the  month  of  April  1512 
should  dispatch  a  fleet  of  forty  sail  to  Southampton  for  4rans- 
porting  them.f  It  was  so  carried  out.  Lord  Willoughby,  one 
of  the  generals  of  the  expedition,  took  in  his  train  Sebastian 
Cabot.  We  know  not  in  what  capacity  Cabot  went,  but  from 
all  the  information  we  have,  it  seems  to  me  very  clear  that 
his  going  to  the  war  was  a  mere  pretext  for  leaving  England 
and  passing  into  Spain  where  King  Ferdinand  had  invited 
him.  That  he  had  not  sought  this  new  service,  but  went  by 
request,  is  expressly  stated  by  Peter  Martyr  D'  Anghiera  and 
Herrera,  The  former  says  :  "He  was  called  from  England 
by  the  Catholic  King  after  the  death  of  Henry  VII,"+  and 


*  Hume  says  of  Henry  VII.  "So  insatiable  was  his  avarice By  all  these 

arts  of  accumulation  joined  to  a  rigid  frugality  in  hjs  expenses,  he  so  filled  his 
coffers, that  he  is  said  to  have  possessed  in  ready  money  the  sum  of  one  million 
eight  hundred  thousand  pounds  :  a  treasure  almost  incredible  if  we  consider  the 
scarcity  of  money  in  those  times."  And  in  a  note  :  "  Silver  was,  during  this 
reign, thirty-seven  shillings  and  sixpence  a  pound,  which  makes  Henry's  treasure 
near  three  millions  of  our  present  money."  This  was  noted  by  Hume  in  his  days 
(1711—1776):  but  if  we  consider  the  difference  in  the  value  of  money  since  his 
time  we  shall  see  that  the  value  of  the  sum  hoarded  by  Henry  VII  vyas  really 
enormous.     Hume's  History  of  England,  ch.  xxvi. 

f  See  Bergenroth,  Calendar,  vol.  ii,  N.  59,  63,  p.  58. 

%  "'Familiarem  habeo  domi  Cabotum Vocatus  namque  ex  Britannia  arege 


118  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

the  latter,  narrating  Ferdinand's  anxiety  about  the  newly-dis- 
covered lands,  and  his  cautious  glances  towards  the  island  of 
Baccalaos,  and  his  desire  of  gathering  around  him  the  best 
cosmographers  of  the  time,  says  that  these  motives  induced 
him  to  draw  Sebastian  Cabot  into  his  service,  knowing  him 
to  be  an  expert  man  of  the  sea.*  True,  in  writing  to  Sebas- 
tian, King  Ferdinand  says  :  "You  offered  your  services  ;"f 
but  this  is  merely  a  form  of  chancery,  for  the  purpose  of  keep- 
ing up  the  King's  dignity. 

On  arriving  in  Spain  Sebastian  Cabot  had  a  conference  at 
the  city  of  Burgos,  with  Lope  Conchillos,  secretary  of  Queen 
Joanna,  and  with  the  Bishop  of  Palencia,  and  the  terms  of  his 
employment  were  therein  settled.;};  After  that,  Ferdinand 
wrote  the  same  day  to  Lord  Willoughby,  asking  him  to  send 
Sebastian  Cabot  to  him,  as  he  required  to  consult  him  about 
some  matters  relating  to  his  service  ;  and  he  also  wrote  to 
Cabot  himself  inviting  him  to  come  to  him  at  once  at  Logrono, 
where  Ferdinand  then  was.  § 


nostro  Catholico  post  Heurici  majoris  Britanniae  regis  mortem  concurialis  est." 
Petri  Martyris  de  Angheria,  De  Rebus  Oceanicis  et  orbe  novo.  Dec.  iii,  lib.  vi. 

*"Este  desseo  de  descubrir  el  estreclio,  y  de  tener  el  Rey  en  su  servicio  per- 
sonas  platicas  en  descubrimientos,  y  affirmarle  mnchos  Cosmographos  que 
necessariamente  le  avia  de  aver  a  la  parte  de  los  Bacallaos  y  otro  al  occidente  ; 
le  movio  a  traer  a  su  servicio  a  Sebastian  Gaboto  Ingles,  por  tener  noticia  que 
era  experto  hombre  de  mar."  Hen-era,  Dec.  i,  lib.  ix,  cap.  xiii. 

f'Ofrecisteis  servirncs."  See  note  next  but  one. 

JThis  Bishop  of  Palencia  must  have  been  John  Rodrigo  de  Fonseca,  not  yet 
promoted  to  the  archbishopric  of  Rosano,  who  was  general  superintendent  of 
the  affairs  of  the  New  World,  and  who  made  himself  notorious  by  his  ill-treat- 
ment and  oppression  of  Christopher  Columbus. 

$  "R.  a  Milor  de  Ulibi  Capitan  R.  de  Ingl.a  He  sabido  que  viene  en  vtra"  com- 
paiiia  Sebastian  Caboto  Ingles,  e  porque  yo  quiero  saber  del  cosas  de  ntro  ser- 
vicio, le  enbiareis  a  do  estoi."  Logrono,  13  Set.e  512. 

"Conch  [illo] 

'  'Obpo[de  Paleucia]  (M.  S.in  the  Library  of  the  Academy  of  History  at  Madrid . 
Collec.  Mufioz,  t.  ex.  fol.  109.) 
^"R.  a  Sebastian  Caboto. 

"Sabeis  que  en  Burgos  os  hablaron  de  mi  parte'Conchillos  i  el  Obp.  de  Pa- 
lencia sobre  la  navegacion  a  los  Bacallos.e  ofrecisteis  servirnos  escribiendo  yo 
a  Milor  de  Uliby,  ntrO  Capitan  :  hele  escrito  y  con  su  licencia  venies,  a  do 
estoi."  Logrono,  13  Set.e  512  (lb.  fol.  115). 
The  Spaniards  translating  according  to  sound  the  name  of  Willoughby,made  it 


1512  to  1515.  119 

This  concern  on  the  King's  part  to  write  both  requests  the 
same  day  shows  clearly  that  every  thing  wras  settled  upon  be- 
tween Cabot  and  the  Spanish  government,  and  the  conference 
at  Burgos  was  merely  for  the  purpose  of  closing  an  agree- 
ment already  made.  Cabot  went  at  once  to  Castile,  and  Fer- 
dinand, by  decree  of  October  20,  1512,  conferred  on  him  the 
rank  of  Captain  with  a  salary  of  fifty  thousand  maravedis 
yearly,  and  assigned  Seville  as  his  residence  while  waiting 
for  orders.  *  The  same  day,  October  20,  the  King  wrote  to 
his  ambassador  to  the  English  government,  ordering  him  to 
assist  Sebastian  Cabot,  his  captain,  who  was  going  to  England 
to  arrange  his  affairs  and  bring  away  his  wife  and  family. f 

His  wife  was  called  Catharine  Medrano,  a  Spaniard  it 
would  seem  from  the  name.;):  From  this  circumstance,  and 
from  the  fact  that  Peter  Martyr  says  that  Sebastian  Cabot 
was  called  to  Spain  after  the  death  of  Henry  VII,  who  died 
in  1509,  Harrisse  is  of  the  opinion  that  Sebastian  had  been  in 
Spain  before  1512,  but  without  giving  up  his  English  dom- 
icile, and  that  it  was  then  that  he  married. §  For  my  part, 
I  do  not  regard  the  building  on  the  wife's  name  as  very  con- 
sistent, for  it  may  very  well  have  been  possible  for  Sebastian  to 

Uliby.  Hen-era  also  calls  him  the  same:  "El  Rev escribio  a  Milort  Ulibi.". 

1.  r. 

*"Letter  from  King  Ferdinand  to  the  Office  at  Seville,  to  which  was  entrusted 
the  management  of  all  the  affairs  of  the  New  World. 

"R.  a  off.  de  Sevilla. 

"A  Sebastian  Caboto  Ingles  he  echo  merced  de  ntro  Capitan  de  mar  con  50, 
000  mrs.  de  Salario,  los  que  les  pagareis  annualm.te  en  la  forma  acostumbrada. 

"Longrono,  20  Oct.  e  1512. 

"Conch. 

"Obpo."— Ibidem.— Herrera  :  "Sebastiano  Gaboto  vino  a  Castilla,  y  el  Rey 
le  dio  titulo  de  su  capitan,  y  buenos  gages,  y  quedo  en  su  servicio,y  le  mando 
resider  en  Sevilla,  para  le  que  se  ordenasse."  Herrera,  1.  c. 

f  "El  Rey  D.  Luis  Caro  ntro  Embajador  etc. 

"Sebastiano  Caboto,  ntro  Gapitan  va  a  poner  recaudo  en  su  hacienda;  a  traer 
su  mujer  i  casa  :  favoreced  su  bueuo  y  breve  despacho. 

"Logrofio,  20  oct.e   512.  lb." 

\  App.  xx. 

§"Nous  croyons  ....  qu'  entre  les  ann6es  1502  et  1509  ou  1512  Cabot,  libre  d' 
engagements  a  regard  de  Henri  VII,  visita  l'Espagne  et  s'y  maria  mais  sans 
cesser  d'  avoir  son  domicile  en  Angleterre." 

Jeanet  Sebastien  Cabot,  p.  109-110. 


120 


THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 


meet  a  Spanish  woman  in  England  ;  thus  Christopher  Co- 
lumbus met  Philippa  Perestrello,  an  Italian,  in  Lisbon,  and 
married  her.  It  is  by  no  means  necessary  to  understand  by 
Peter  Martyr's  expression  post  mortem,  the  time  immediately 
following  the  death  of  Henry  VII. 

From  1512  to  .515  the  only  record  to  be  found  of  Sebastian 
Cabot  is  in  certain  schedules  of  payment  of  salary,  which  by 
the  King's  order  was  paid  him  in  full  without  any  deduction 
for  the  time  he  spent  in  England  on  his  own  affairs.* 

In  1515  Peter  Martyr  in  speaking  of  him,  mentions  the 
friendship  he  had  with  him,  and  the  hospitality  which 
he  often  extended  to  him  in  his  own  house.  He  calls  him  also 
his  Concurialis,  and  as  Peter  Martyr  was  a  member  of  the 
Supreme  Council  of  the  Indies,  Eden,  as  we  have  seen,  inter- 
prets that  word  to  mean  that  Sebastian  was  also  a  member  of 
the  council,  and  many  others  have  repeated  it  after  him.f  But 
the  fact  is  that  Herrera  gives  a  list  of  all  the  members  of  that 
council,  and  in  it  we  find  Peter  Martyr,  but  no  Sebastian 
Cabot.  ;f  The  proper  translation  of  the  word  is,  therefore,  that 
given  by  Avezac,  namely,  that  concurialis  means  'is  here  with 
me  at  court.  "§ 

From  Peter  Martyr's  words  it  seems  that  Sebastian  Cabot 
was  surrounded  in  Spain  by  a  strong  circle  of  rivals  who  tried 
to  detract  from  his  reputation  and  sap  the  foundation  of  his 
greatness.i1  This  was  very  natural.  Among  those  Spanish  sea- 
men were  some  who  had  accompanied  the  discoverer  of  the 
New  World  on  his  voyages  ;  there  were  the  companions 
of  Alonzo  de  Ojeda,  of  Yanez  Pinzon,  of  John  de  la  Cosa;  and 
they  must  all  have  felt  humiliated  that  a  foreigner,  a  perfect 
stranger  to  Spanish  navigations,  should  place  himself  at  their 
side  and  take  precedence  over  many  of  them.     But  the  high 

*  See  App.  xvii. 

f  In  his  translation  of  the  first  three  Decades  of  Anghiera,  1555. 

X  This  list  is  found  at  the  bottom  of  his  Description  of  the  East  Indies. 

%  In  the  Revue  Critique  d'  Histoire  et  de  Litterature,  Premier  Semestre, 
1870,  p.  265. 

||  "Ex  Castellanis  non  desuntqui  Cabotum  primum  fuisse  Baccalorum  reper- 
torem  negant,  tantumque  ad  Occidentem  tetendisse  minime  assentiuntur."  P. 
M.  d'Anghiera,  1.  c. 


DEATH  OF  KING  FERDINAND.  121 

position  in  which  we  find  him  in  1515,  shows  that  he  had 
come  out  triumphantly  over  all  and  every  thing.  In  that 
year  Herrera  names  him  as  a  member  of  a  commission 
charged  with  revising  and  correcting  all  the  maps  and  charts 
used  in  Spanish  navigation,  a  duty  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance and  delicacy  at  a  time  when  the  principal  activity 
of  Spain  was  directed  to  navigation  and  discovery.* 

Under  the  same  year,  Peter  Martyr's  history  relates  that  an 
expedition  was  planned  for  the  next  year  to  make  further  ex- 
plorations and  discoveries,  and  that  Cabot  was  to  be  at  its 
head.f  In  fact,  in  the  book  of  accounts  of  the  Treasury  at  the 
House  at  Seville,  is  a  note  of  a  payment  to  Sebastian  Cabot  for 
going  to  court  to  confer  with  Their  Majesties  concerning  a 
voyage  of  discovery  which  he  was  to  undertake.^:  But  while 
they  were  making  preparations,  King  Ferdinand  died,  Janu- 
ary 23,  1516. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Sebastian  Cabot  back  in  England. 

The  governments  of  those  days,  all  centring  in  the  life  of 
the  sovereign,  always  received  a  severe  shock  wdien  he  died, 
and  the  whole  machinery  of  the  public  business  felt  its  effects 
in  a  greater  or  less  degree.  In  this  oscillation  there  was  al- 
ways a  period  of  uncertainty,  of  doubt,  in  the  whole  civil  ad- 
ministration until  the  new  sovereign  had  declared  his  views 


*  ".. . —  porque  las  cartas  de  marear  de  Castilla  no  pareva  que estavan 

conformes*los  oficiales  de  la  casa  de  Sevilla  suplicaron  al  Rey  les  diesse 
licencia  para  bazer  sobre  ello  junta  de  Pilotos  y  corregir  las  cartas.  El  Rey  lo 
tuvo  por  bien  .  .  .  .  y  para  la  junta  que  se  avia  de  bazer,  ordeuo  que  se  bus- 
casseu  los  meiores  Cosmografos  y  Pilotos  :  rnaudo  a  .  .  .  .  asentar  el  salario  de 
Capitan  y  Cosmografo  a  Sebastian  Caboto,  etc."  Dec.  ii,  lib.  i,  cap.  xii. 

t  "Sebastianus  Cabotns  .  .  .  expectat  in  dies  ut  navigia  sibi  parentur,  quibus 
arcanum  hoc  nature  latens  iam  tandem  detegatur.  Martio  mense  anni  futuri 
MDXVI  puto  ad  explorandum  discessurum."  1.  c. 

As  to  arcanum  hoc  naturae  latens.     See  note  at  that  place  in  App.  xviii. 

t  See  App,  xvii.  A. 


122  TTHfi  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOtf. 

of  the  direction  he  wished  to  give  to  the  machinery  of  the 
government.  The  internal  and  external  relations  of  the  King- 
dom of  Spain  and  the  different  characters  of  the  former  and 
present  sovereign  rendered  this  period  of  uncertainty  and 
doubt  unusually  full  of  anxiety  and  danger.  Spain  was  a 
kingdom  of  recent  formation,  and  with  the  new  King  made 
its  first  experiment  of  trusting  its  united  destinies  to  the 
hands  of  a  single  sovereign.  Externally  Spanish  honor  was 
pledged  in  many  and  distant  wars  and  their  fortunate  issue 
was  not  so  much  hoped  for  from  their  own  forces  and  treasure, 
as  from  the  prudence  of  Ferdinand  and  the  confidence  in  him- 
self which  he  had  inspired  in  nearly  every  court.  He  was 
horn  and  bred  and  lived  in  Spain  and  for  Spain,  and  associated 
with  the  heroic  Isabella  in  the  glory  of  having  given  national 
unity  to  the  country.  On  the  other  hand,  Charles,  his  suc- 
cessor, was  young,  only  known  to  Spaniards  by  name,  born  and 
bred  an  Austrian,  with  his  affections  much  more  set  on  his 
paternal  domains  than  on  the  rich  inheritance  of  his  grand- 
father. The  suspense  of  mind  was  consequently  greater  in  the 
beginning  of  the  new  reign  than  on  other  like  occasions,  and 
the  preparations  for  Sebastian  Cabot's  contemplated  expedi- 
tion as  well  as  many  other  matters  were  put  aside. 

During  this  period,  which  naturally  had  special  causes  of 
anxiety  for  Cabot,  an  opportunity  was  presented  for  him  to 
return  again  to  the  frosts  of  the  North  in  the  service  of 
England  for  a  new  expedition  in  search  of  the  longed-for  pas- 
sage to  Cathay  by  the  north-west.  But  as  his  service  only 
lasted  during  this  expedition,  and  after  that  we  again  find 
him  at  his  accustomed  duties  in  Spain,  we  must  presume  that 
he  had  a  special  permission  for  his  absence  from  the  Spanish 
government.  How  he  came  to  be  called  to  England,  and 
on  what  terms,  and  who  was  promoting  the  expedition,  all 
is  dark  to  us.  The  grants  already  mentioned  from  the  King 
of  England  to  the  three  Portuguese  merely  contemplated  new 
explorations  and  discoveries  in  the  regions  already  discovered. 
Nowhere  does  it  appear  that  any  one  had  proposed  to  resume 
the  bold  idea  of  the  Cabots  of  opening  a  passage  to  the 
eastern  lands  of  Cathay  across  the  lands  discovered  in  the 


VOYAGE  OF  1516.  123 

northern  seas  to  the  westward.  But  on  September  25,  1513, 
Vasco  Nunez  de  Balboa  crossing  from  Darien  the  cloven 
heights  of  the  Cordillera,  from  the  tops  of  those  mountains  dis- 
covered the  Great  Ocean,  and  settled  the  question  that  the 
lands  of  America  were  isolated.*  This  fact  puts  Cabot's  plan 
in  a  new  light,  and  the  search  after  a  passage  to  the  eastern 
lands  of  Asia  acquired  the  same  importance  as  the  first  voy- 
ages of  discovery  in  the  New  World.  As  the  matter  was  of  the 
greatest  interest  for  the  future  of  England,  Cabot's  idea  was 
taken  up  again,  and  an  expedition  got  together  for  a  new 
and  more  determined  experiment.  Sebastian  Cabot  was 
called  upon  to  direct  it  in  the  character  of  pilot, f 

Of  all  the  losses  we  have  to  lament  in  his  life  this  is  the 
most  deplorable,  that  nothing  is  left  concerning  this  voyage 
which  from  many  indications  appears  to  have  been  most  im- 
portant under  every  aspect.  It  is  only  by  chance  that  with 
much  labor  we  have  been  able  to  make  sure  of  its  existence. 
Richard  Eden,  the  personal  friend  of  Sebastian  Cabot,  is  the 
only  one  to  make  direct  and  clear  mention  of  it.  In  1553,  dur- 
ing the  life-time  of  Sebastian,Eden  printed  at  London  a  transla- 
tion of  the  Universal  Cosmography  of  Sebastian  Munster,  and 
in  the  dedication  to  the  Duke  of  Northumberland,  complain- 
ing of  the  neglect  into  which  navigation,  and  discovery  had 
fallen,  he  writes  these  words  :  "If  it  (manly  courage)  had  not 
been  wanting  in  other  in  these  our  dayes  at  such  time  as  our 
Sovereigne  Lord  of  noble  memory,  King  Henry  the  Eighth,  a- 


*  Herrera,  Dec.  i,  lib.  x,  cap.  i. 

t  Oviedo,  in  the  13th  chapter  of  the  XIX  Book  of  his  history,  relates  that  an 
English  vessel  coming  from  the  neighborhood  of  Brazil  appeared  at  the  har- 
bor of  San  Domingo  in  the  island  of  Hispaniola,  and  requested  license  to  enter 
there  for  the  purpose  of  trading;  that  the  comandant  of  the  fort  being  sus- 
picious opened  fire  on  it,  and  the  English  retired  in  fear  and  went  to  the  island 
of  St.  John  for  supplies,  complaining  loudly  of  their  treatment,  and  protesting 
that  they  came  with  fair  intentions  of  trafficking  and  nothing  else. 

The  fact  occurred  in  1527,  but  Hakluyt  erroneously  puts  it  in  1517,  aud 
so  believes  that  the  vessel  was  commanded  by  Sebastian  Cabot,  and  makes 
one  of  his  expeditions  take  place  in  1517  to  the  vicinity  of  Brazil.  Purchas 
(Pilgrims,  vol.  iv,  p.  1812),  Robertson  in  his  History  of  America  (Book 
ix),  Lardner  in  his  Cyclopaedia  (vol.  ii,  p.  138),  and  others  have  fallen  into 
the  same  error. 


124  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

bout  the  same  (eighth  )y  ere  of  his  raygne,  furnished  and  set  forth 
carten  shippes  under  the  governaunce  of  Sebastian  Cabot  yet  living, 
and  one  sir  Thomas  Parte,  whose  fayant  heart  was  the  cause 
that  that  viage  toke  none  effect ;  if  (I  say)  such  manly  courage 
whereof  we  have  spoken  had  not  at  that  tyme  bene  wanting,  it 
myghte  happelye  have  come  to  passe  that  rich  treasurye  called 
Perularia  (which  is  now  in  Spayne,  in  the  citie  of  Civile 
and  so  named,  for  that  in  it  is  kepte  the  infinite  ryches  brought 
thither  from  the  newefoundland  of  Peru)  myght  longe  since 
have  bene  in  the  Tower  of  London,  to  the  Kinges  great  hon- 
ure  and  welth  of  this  his  realme."* 

Henry  VIII  having  ascended  the  throne  April  22,  1509, 
the  eighth  year  of  his  reign  strictly  speaking  is  from  April 
22,  1516  to  April  22,  1517.  But  in  a  broader  sense  we  may 
mean  1509  by  the  first  year  of  his  reign,  and  1510  by  the  sec- 
ond, and  so  on  :  which  would  make  the  eighth  year  coincide 
with  1516.  Some  writers  have  followed  one,  some  the  other  in- 
terpretation; and  whichever  is  followed  makes  no  substantial 
difference  in  the  narrative.  I  incline  to  the  second,  which 
keeps  us  within  the  year  1516  ;  because  it  seems  to  me  more 
natural  that  Cabot's  departure  from  Spain  should  have  oc- 
curred within  the  first  months  after  Ferdinand's  death,  just  in 
that  period  of  uncertainty  and  doubt  we  have  spoken  of,  be- 
fore the  new  sovereign  has  shown  the  direction  he  intends  to 
give  to  the  machinery  of  government. 

As  to  Perularia,  we  easily  recognize  under  this  name  the 
immense  treasures  which  Spain  in  those  times  drew  from  Peru, 
and  which  fancy  made  even  greater  than  they  were,  though 
they  were  great  enough  in  reality. 

This  is  the  only  direct  notice  we  have  of  this  new  expedi- 
tion, but  other  indirect  notices,  and  very  clear  ones,  confirm 
and  extend  the  account  given  by  Eden, 

Robert  Thome,  a  rich  English  merchant  settled  in  Seville, 
who  watched  with  great  interest  the  march  of  discovery,  anx- 
ious that  his  country  should  also  enter  fully  and  effectually 
on  this  glorious  path,  wrote  in  1527  a  memorial  to  Henry 


*  A  Treatise  of  the  New  India,  Load.  1553. 


VOYAGE  OF  1516.  125 

VIII  to  urge  that  monarch  to  seek  a  passage  by  the  north  to 
reach  the  regions  of  Cathay.*  He  accompanied  this  letter 
with  another  to  Dr.  Edward  Leigh,  ambassador  of  Henry  VIII 
to  Charles  V  in  Spain.  In  the  letter  to  Leigh  he  explains 
why  he  takes  so  lively  an  interest  in  the  search  for  that  pas- 
sage by  the  northern  seas.  "  I  reason  that  as  some  sick- 
nesses are  hereditarious,  and  come  from  the  father  to  the 
sonne,  so  this  inclination  or  desire  of  this  disco verie  I  in- 
herited of  my  father,  which  with  another  marchant  of 
Bristow  named  Hugh  Eliot,  were  the  discoverers  of  the  New- 
found-Lands ;f  of  the  which  there  is  no  doubt  (as  nowe 
plainly  appeareth)  if  the  mariners  would  then  have  bene 
ruled  and  followed  their  Pilot's  minde,  the  lands  of  the  West 
Indies  (from  whence  all  the  gold  commeth,)  had  bene  ours. 
For  all  is  one  coast,  as  by  the  card  appeareth,  and  is 
aforesayd."  %  There  are  three  ways  proposed  by  Thorne 
to  the  King  for  opening  this  passage  ;  one  would  run 
behind  the  new  land  he  speaks  of  in  his  letter  to  Leigh. 
His  words  are  :  "And  if  they  (our  sailors)  will  take  their 
course  after  they  be  past  the  Pole,  toward  the  west,  they  shall 
go  in  the  backside  of  the  Newfoundland,  which  of  late  ivas 
discovered  by  your  Grace's  subjects,  until  they  come  to  the  back- 
side and  south  seas  of  the  Indies  Occidental.  "§ 

The  expression,  of  late,  applied  to  the  new  discovery,  assures 
us  that  Newfoundland  seen  in  1497,  is  not  referred  to,  for  the 
long  time  that  had  elapsed,  and  the  numerous  voyages  thither, 
would  make  the  expression  entirely  out  of  place  ;  whereas 
only  fourteen  years  had  passed  since  the  expedition  of  1516, 
and    as  it  pushed  northwards   to  an  altitude    never    before 


*Hakluyt,  vol.i.  p.  235. 

f  lb.  p.  237.  Rymer  in  his  Fcedera,  vol.  xiii,  p.  37,  reports  a  royal  patent 
for  a  new  expedition,  December  9,  1502,  in  which  the  name  of  Hugh  Eliot  is 
joined  with  that  of  Thomas  Ashehurst  and  not  with  Nicholas  Tborne's.  Hence 
we  must  either  admit  another  patent  which  we  know  nothing  of,  or  more  prob- 
ably suppose  with  Biddle  that  Thorne  bought  from  Ashehurst  or  his  heirs  his 
share  in  the  privileges  of  the  expedition.  Memoir,  ch.  xiii,  pp.  107,  108. 

X  He  means  the  chart  which  Thorne  enclosed  with  the  letter  to  explain  and 
prove  his  plan.      Hakluyt,  i.  243. 

§  Hakluyt,  ib.  p.  237. 


126  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

reached,  the  name  of  Newfoundland  belongs  more  ap- 
propriately to  the  regions  then  seen  for  the  first  time.  And  that 
the  Newfoundland  was  seen  on  Cabot's  expedition  of  1516  we 
know  from  the  circumstance  of  the  revolt  of  the  crews,  which 
is  likewise  told  by  Eden,  and  is  found  in  all  the  other  ac- 
counts referring  to  the  same  expedition. 

This  voyage  is  told  of  with  additional  and  more  particular 
details,  but  without  any  date  given,  in  a  legend  on  one  of  Ca- 
bot's charts  preserved  in  the  private  royal  gallery  at    White- 
hall in  Westminster,  as  we  are  informed  by  Sir   Humphrey 
Gilbert,  himself  a  distinguished  navigator,  and  who  in  his 
youth  may  have  seen  and  known  the  great  Venetian  person- 
ally.* These  are  Humphrey's  words  :  "  Sebastian  Cabota  .... 
in    his    charts    which    are  yet    to    be   seene  in    the    Queen's 
Majesty's    Privie    Gallerie  at   Whitehall    ....  affirme  that 
he   sayled  very  farre  westward  with  a  quarter  of  the  North, 
on  the  North    side    of  Terra  de   Labrador   the    eleventh    of 
June,  until  he  came    to   the    septentrionall   latitude    of\67 
degrees  and  a-halfe,   and   finding  the  seas  still  open,   sayd 
that  he  might  and  would  have  gone  to  Cataia,  if  the  mutinie 
of  the  Master  and  Mariners  had  not  bene."f 

Cabot  himself  wrote  to  Jerome  Ramusio  the  same  details 
as  those  on  the  chart,  as  the  latter  relates  in  his  dedicatory 
letter  to  the  celebrated  Fracastoro,  prefixed  to  the  third  vol- 
ume of  his  great  collection.  Ramusio  speaking  of  New  France, 
as  it  was  called  then,  or  Canada  as  it  is  now,  says  :  "We  are 
not  yet  (1553)  sure  whether  that  land  is  joined  on  to  the 
mainland  of  the  province  of  Florida  and  New  Spain,  or  is  all 
divided  into  islands.  And  if  by  that  way  it  is  possible  to  go 
to  Cathay,  as  was  written  many  years  ago  by  Signor  Se- 
bastian Cabot,  our  Venetian,  a  man  of  great  experience  and 
rare  in  the  art  of  navigation  and  science  of  cosmography  :  he 
had  sailed  above  this  land  of   New  France  at  the  expense  of 

*  He  lived  from  1539  to  1584,  and  won  great  reputation  in  his  search  for  a 
passage  to  Cathay  by  the  north-east  of  Europe.  The  story  of  his  voyage  was 
originally  published  in  1576,  and  republished,  but  in  a  mutilated  form,  by  Hak- 
luyt. 

f  Hakluyt,[vol.  iii,  p.  38. 


DISCOVERY  OF  HUDSON  STRAIT.  127 

King  Henry  VII  of  England,  and  he  told  me  that  having 
gone  a  long  distance  towards  the  west  and  a  quarter  to  the 
north-west  behind  these  islands  situated  along  the  said  land, 
as  far  as  sixty-seven  and  a  half  degrees  under  our  pole,  on 
the  11th  of  June,  and  finding  the  sea  open  and  without  im- 
pediment, he  firmly  believed  he  could  pass  by  that  way  tow- 
ards eastern  Cathay,  and  would  have  done  so  if  the  malice  of 
the  master  and  insurgent  mariners  had  not  forced  him  to  turn 
bach"  * 

As  to  the  height  of  latitude  reached,  Martin  Frobisher 
put  it  at  67  degrees,f  Herrera  684  But  this  difference  not  only 
is  slight,  but  the  mean  between  them  exactly  agrees  with 
Ramusio,  who  says  67°,  30'. 

It  is  an  exaggerated  scruple  on  the  part  of  Erizzo  Minis- 
calchi  that  contrary  to  the  full  agreement  of  these  witnesses, 
makes  him  loath  to  admit  this  voyage  of  Cabot's  for  the  sole 
reason  that  he  was  not  at  its  head,  but  only  held  the  office  of 
Pilot  ;  regarding  it  as  unbecoming  and  inadmissible  that 
after  holding  the  first  rank  in  other  navigations,  he  should 
in  this  have  accepted  a  secondary  part.§  In  allowing  him- 
self to  be  affected  by  this  scruple,  he  forgets  with  wThat 
strength  an  idea  rooted  for  years  m  a  man's  mind,  and 
strengthened  by  long  study  and  meditation,  gains  absolute 
dominion  over  his  thoughts  and  forces  the  will  and  self-love  to 
bend  in  order  to  gain  the  desired  triumph.  What  though  Cabot 
had  over  his  head  the  person  of  Thomas  Pert,  officers  and  sail- 
ors knew  that  not  Pert  but  he  was  the  Pharos  of  the  expedition 

*  As  to  tbe  uncertainty  expressed  by  Ramusio  whether  New  France  was  all 
a  continuous  land  with  Florida  and  New  Spain  (Mexico),  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  John  de  la  Cosa  in  his  famous  chart  of  1500  makes  the  land  contin- 
uous from  the  coast  of  Labrador  to  south  of  the  equatorial  line.  John  Sehoner, 
on  the  contrary,  in  his  of  1520,  divides  North  and  Central  America  into  two 
parts.  As  to  what  is  mentioned  here  about  Henry  VII,  we  shall  recur  to  it  L- 
the  XII  chapter  where  the  same  matter  is  repeated  by  another  writer, 
f 'I  find  that  Gabota  was  the  first,  in  Kins  Henry  VII's  days,  that  discovered 
this  frozen  land  or  seas  from  sixty-seven  towards  the  North  and  from  thence 
towards  the  South,  along  the  coast  of  America  to  36  degrees  and  a  half,  etc." 
Reporte  of  Voyage  to  Meta  Incognita  etc.  Bv  Thomas  Church vard,  Hakluyt,  iii. 
38. 

X  Dec.  i,  lib.  vi,  cap.  16. 

§  Erizzo  Miniscalchi,  "Le  Scoperte  Artiche"  p.  131,  note. 


128  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

and  to  him  they  looked  for  light  amid  the  darkness  of  the 
way.  And  if  they  had  succeeded  in  gloriously  carrying  out 
their  purpose,  it  certainly  would  not  be  on  Pert's  forehead 
that  public  opinion  would  have  placed  the  triumphal  crown. 
And  besides,  in  the  maritime  enterprises  of  those  days  instan- 
ces often  occurred  where  men  of  great  worth  and  reputation  ac- 
cepted a  secondary  part  that  they  might  have  some  share  in 
the  expedition  :  as  John  de  la  Cosa  in  those  of  Alonzo  de 
Ojeda  and  Rodrigo  de  Bastidas  ;  Americus  Vespucci  in  all 
four  of  his  voyages  ;  William  Barentz  in  the  expedition  of 
1596  led  by  Heemcskerck  ;  William  Baffin  in  that  of  161G  di- 
rected by  Robert  Bylot.  *  Only  too  frequently  were  the  gen- 
ius and  the  means  to  lead  an  expedition  in  open  opposition 
one  to  another,  and  in  such  cases  genius  must  yield  to  the  will 
and  sometimes  arrogance  of  the  one  who  puts  out  the 
money,  reserving  for  its  own  reward  the  satisfaction  of  being 
the  real  head  of  the  expedition.  But  history  did  justice,  and 
the  bay  discovered  by  the  expedition  of  1616  was  named 
after  the  pilot  Baffin,  not  the  commander  Bylot, 


CHAPTER  XII. 


Sebastian    Cabot   discovered    the   strait   and   bay   which   were 
afterwards  named  from  Hudson. 

What  was  the  place  in  latitude  sixty-seven-and-a-half 
degrees,  where  Sebastian  Cabot  was  compelled  by  the  fear  of 
his  companions  to  go  back  ?  We  have  no  direct  information 
from  any  quarter,  but  by  putting  together  various  other  facts 
we  may  be  able  to  throw  some  light  on  our  subject. 

The  fourth  expedition,  like  the  third,  aimed  at  finding  a 
passage  to  the  eastern  coasts  of  Asia  ;  where  would  it  go  to 
look  for  it  ?  Certainly  not  to  the  place  already  explored  and 


in. 


L.  Huguezia  the  "Memorie  della  Societa  Geografica  Italiana,"  vol.  i,  parte 


DISCOVERY  OF  HUDSON  STRAIT.  129 

which  had  given  a  negative  answer  to  previous  researches. 
The  southern  part  of  America  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  de  la 
Plata  had  been  passed  by  Spanish  and  Portuguese  ships  ;  the 
central  had  been  explored  by  the  Spaniards  from  the  days  of 
Christopher  Columbus  ;  the  northern  from  the  coasts  of  Labra- 
dor to  Chesapeake  Bay  had  been  visited  by  Sebastian  Cabot 
himself,  in  1498.  All  that  remained,  then,  to  explore  was  the 
southern  extremity  and  the  region  north  of  Labrador.  The 
Portuguese  and  Spanish  vessels  were  busy  exploring  and  ex- 
amining to  the  south,  and  besides  it  was  too  far  out  of  the 
reach  of  England  ;  therefore  the  new  English  expedition  had 
no  way  left  for  it  to  take  but  to  push  its  explorations  to  the 
north  of  Labrador.  It  could  not,  however,  go  too  far  north, 
for  in  the  previous  voyage  of  1498  they  saw  there  was  land 
in  that  direction  and  that  it  trended  to  the  north-east.  There- 
fore the  course  of  Sebastian  Cabot  was  designated  right  to 
the  north-west,  to  the  broad  opening  between  Labrador  and 
Greenland,  the  precise  portion  still  unexplored,  for  as  we  said 
in  its  proper  place,  from  the  parallel  of  66°  where  he 
reached  the  coast  of  Greenland,  he  sailed  right  down  to  the 
coast  of  Labrador,  without  taking  notice  of  the  wide  gulf  he 
left  on  his  right.  But  as  the  English  afterwards  often  re- 
turned to  the  land  of  Labrador,  it  was  very  easy  to  ascertain 
that  it  extended  far  back  in  the  sea  towards  the  north-west. 

Entering  that  gulf,  is  it  more  probable  that  he  passed 
through  Davis  Strait  or  the  smaller  strait  of  Hudson  ?  The 
question  is  equivalent  to  this  ;  what  is  more  likely  than  that 
Cabot  continued  at  hazard  on  the  open  sea  and  kept  along  the 
coast  of  Labrador,  following  every  bend  it  makes,  towards 
the  places  where  he  wanted  to  arrive?  To  the  question  in  this 
form,  it  seems  to  me,  there  can  be  but  one  answer.  His 
course  from  England  was  therefore  straight  for  the  land  of 
Labrador,  at  the  point  where  his  previous  exploration  ended, 
and  then  taking  the  coast  for  his  guide,  he  came  to  Cape 
Chudleigh  where  the  land  turns,  and  he  turned  with  it,  and 
so  found  himself  sailing  in  that  strait  which  was  afterwards 
named  from  Hudson. 

Let  us  now  see  how  the  few  indications  which  have  been 

9 


130  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

left  us  agree  with  these  probable  and  natural  suppositions 
of  the  itinerary  of  the  fourth  expedition. 

After  Sebastian  Cabot's  death  repeated  attempts  were  made 
to  find  a  passage  to  Asia  by  the  north  of  America  and, 
as  is  natural,  his  previous  voyages  served  as  the  rule 
and  guide  of  those  who  wanted  to  continue  his  work  :  and  his 
not  having  succeeded  was  the  main  argument  in  opposition 
to  prove  that  it  was  idle  to  renew  the  attempt.  The  first  to 
come  forward  with  great  courage  and  tenacity  to  resume  the 
work  of  Sebastian  Cabot  was  Martin  Frobisher  who  gave  his 
name  to  one  of  the  bays  opening  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Cum- 
berland. A  great  contest  occurred  over  his  project,  for 
and  against  it,  but  the  victory  remained  with  those  in  its 
favor.  Among  its  most  ardent  supporters  was  Humphrey  Gil- 
bert whose  name  was  afterwards  distinguished  among  the 
most  honored  in  the  noble  band  of  discoverers.  He  had  made 
special  studies  on  this  subject,  and  a  certain  George  Gascoigne, 
a  relative  of  Frobisher's,  knowing  this,  requested  him  to 
show  Frobisher  what  he  had  collected  so  as  to  derive  from  it 
advice  and  rules  foi  his  voyage.  Humphrey  complied,  and 
Gascoigne  printed  and  published  the  information  thus 
obtained  on  the  12th  of  April  1576,  two  months  before  Frob- 
isher started  on  his  voyage.  Gascoigne  himself  tells  us  all  this 
in  the  Preface.*  Here,  for  the  purpose  of  proving  that 
the  north  of  America  is  not  a  continuous  land,  but  that  there 
is  an  opening  there  by  which  a  passage  is  given  to  the  east- 
ero  lands  of  Asia,  we  read  the  following  passage,  a  part 
of  which  we  have  already  given,  but  the  whole  is  inserted 
here  for  greater  clearness.   "  Furthermore  Sebastian  Cabota 


*"Now  it  happened  that  myself  being  one(amongst  many)beholden  to  the  said 
sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  for  sundry  courtesies,  did  come  to  visit  him  in  the  win- 
ter last  past,  at  his  house  in  Limehouse,  and  being  very  bold  to  demand  of 
him,  how  he  spent  his  time  in  this  loitering  vacation  from  martial  stratagems, 
he  courteously  took  me  into  his  study,  and  there  showed  me  sundry  profitable 
and  very  commendable  exercises  which  he  had  perfected  painfully  with  his  own 
pen,  and  amongst  the  rest  this  present  discovery.  The  which,  as  well  because 
it  was  not  long,  as  also,  because,  lunderstood  that  M.  Forboiser,  a  Kins-man  of 
mine,  did  pretend  to  travel  in  the  same  discovery,  I  craved  it  at  the  said  sir 
Humphrey's  hand  for  two  oi  three  days."  Biddle,  Memoir,  bk.  ii,ch.  xiii. 


DATE  OF  THIS  DISCOVERY.  131 

by  his  personal  experience  and  travel  hath  set  foorth,  and  described 
this  passage  in  his  charts  which  are  yet  to  be  seene  in  the 
Queen's  Majesty's  Privie  Gallerie  at  Whitehall,  who  was 
sent  to  make  this  discovery  by  King  Henry  VII,  and 
entered  the  same  fret  :  affirming  that  he  sailed  veryfarre  west- 
ward with  a  quarter  of  the  North,  on  the  North  side  of  Terra 
de  Labrador  the  eleventh  of  June,  until  he  came  to  the 
septemptrionall  latitude  of  67  degrees  and  a-halfe,  and  finding 
the  sea  still  open,  said  that  he  might  and  would  have  gone  to 
Cataia,  if  the  mutinie  of  the  Master  and  Mariners  had  not 
bene."* 

Another  person  who  fought  hard  in  favor  of  Martin  Frobish- 
er's  undertaking  was  Richard  Willes,  the  meritorious  contin- 
uator  of  Eden's  work.  He  puts  in  the  mouth  of  the  opponents 
who  claimed  that  it  was  impossible  for  it  to  succeed,  these 
words  :  "Well  graunt  the  West  Indies  not  to  continue  continent 
unto  the  Pole,  grant  there  be  a  passage  between  these  two 
lands,  let  the  gulfe  lie  nearer  us  than  commonly  in  Cardes 
we  finde  it  set,  namely,  behveene  the  61  and  64  degrees  North,  as 
Gemma  Frisius  f  in  his  mappes  and  globes  imagineth  it, 
and  so  left  by  our  countryman  Sebastian  Cabot,  in  his  Table, 
which  the  Earle  of  Bedford  hath  at  Cheynies  .  ..."  £ 

Then  speaking  in  his  own  person  with  greater  particularity 
he  continues  :  "For  that  Caboto  was  not  only  a  skilful  seaman 
but  a  long  traveller  and  such  a  one  as  entered  personally  that 
straight,  sent  by  King  Henry  VII.  to  make  this  aforesaid  dis- 
covery as  in  his  own  Discourse  of  Navigation  yov  may  read  in 
his  Card,  drawn  ivith  his  own  hand,  that  the  mouth  of  the  North 
Western  Straight  lieth  near  the  318  meridian,  between  61  and 
64  degrees  in  the  elevation  continuyng  the  same  breadth  a- 
bout  ten  degrees  West,  where  it  openeth  southerly  more  and 
more."§ 

*  Hakluyt,  vol.  iii,  p.  38  from  the  Discourse  of  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert, 
where  the  possibility  is  proved  of  going  by  the  north-west  to  Cathay,  ch.  iii. 

f  Gemma  Regnier,  surnamed  Frisius  or  Frizon  because  born  in  Frieslaud  in 
Holland,  was  a  celebrated  mathematician,  who  besides  many  other  works  of 
great  merit  and  reputation  published  a  "  Mappa  Mundi,"  atLouvain  in  1540. 
He  was  born  in  1508,  and  died  at  Louvaiu  in  1555. 

X  Hakluyt  vol.  iii,  p.  48.  §  lb.  p.  49. 


132  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

The  topographical  description  corresponds  so  exactly  with 
the  true  position  that  of  itself  alone  it  would  suffice  to  con- 
vince us  that  Richard  Willes  was  speaking  of  the  very  strait 
and  bay  which  were  later  called  after  Hudson,  and  of  no  other 
place.  But  if  this  is  not  enough,  there  is  the  perfect  agree- 
ment of  the  latitude  in  its  confirmation.  Willes's  calculation 
of  the  longitude  is  made  from  the  island  of  Ferro  eastwards. 
Now  following  this  direction  between  61°  and  64°  N.  L.  we 
come  directly  to  the  mouth  of  Hudson  Strait.  It  is  true  that  the 
degrees  of  longitude  from  the  Island  of  Ferro  to  the  entrance  of 
that  strait  are  not  318  as  Willes  has  it,  but  312  ;  but  the 
difference  very  likely  should  be  charged  to  Willes,  who  judged 
by  looking  at  Cabot's  chart,  without  much  attention  to  the 
mathematical  exactness  in  the  distance.  * 

The  difference  in  longitude,  however,  does  not  injure 
our  argument,  so  long  as  the  latitude,  which  is  the  important 
point,  is  given  correctly. 

Finally,  Ortelius  puts  the  seal  on  all  this  discussion  by 
his  Theatrum,  Orbis  Terrarum,  published  in  1570,  that  is  to  say, 
forty  years  before  Hudson's  expedition  ;  and  even  before 
Martin  Frobisher  attempted  his  voyage  to  the  same  coasts. 
In  that  Atlas,  in  the  map  he  calls  "America,  i.  e.  novi  orbis 
descriptio,  "  he  puts  the  strait  and  bay  which  were  afterwards 
called  Hudson's,  and  the  channel  afterwards  named  Fox's 
which  empties  into  the  bay,  with  an  exactness  not  possible  to 
any  one  who  had  not  certain  and  precise  information  of  the 
topography  of  those  regions.  But  where  could  he  have  got 
this  information  ?  The  answer  is  had  in  the  Catalogue  of 
the  authors  from  whom  he  says  he  obtained  the  necessary 
information  for  his  work.  Amongst  these  we  find  Sebastian 
Cabot,  whose  "universal  map  cut  in  brass"  he  says  he  had  be- 
fore his  eyes,  f  As  none  of  the  other  authors  he  names  in  the 


*Bi<ldle,   Memoir,  Book  i,  ch.  3,  pp.  234-285. 

t  Oatologus  auctornm  Tabula!  um  Geograpuicamm  quotquot  ad  uostram  cog- 
nitionem  hactenus  pervenere. 

Sebastianvs  Gabotus  Venetus. 

Universalero  talmlam  quam  impressam  aeneis  formis  vidimus,  sed  sine  nomine 
loci  et  impressoris. 


DATE  OF  THIS  DISCOVERY.  133 

note  give  any  information  whatever  concerning  those  north- 
ern regions,  it  remains  necessary  that  he  must  have  obtained 
it  from  Cabot. 

In  the  whole  treatment  of  this  chapter  I  have  followed  al- 
most in  the  steps  of  Richard  Biddlcin  his  Memoir,  as  it  seems 
to  me  that  what  he  says  is  not  only  likely  or  probable,  but  true. 
I  must  confess  that  the  last  argument  drawn  from  Ortel- 
ius's  Atlas  has  given  me  some  trouble.  Biddle  did  not  know 
of  Sebastian  Cabot's  great  planisphere  which  is  still  preserved 
in  the  National  Library  at  Paris.  But  we  who  know  of  it 
must  draw  our  proofs  from  that,  not  from  Ortelius.  For  al- 
though Ortelius  has  Hudson  Bay  and  Strait  and  Fdx  Chan- 
nel with  all  the  exactness  noted  by  Biddle,  Cabot's  plani- 
sphere on  the  contrary  leaves  us  in  the  dark.  From  this  it 
would  seem  most  natural  to  conclude  that  Ortelius  did  not 
obtain  his  knowledge  of  those  parts  from  Cabot's  Map.  But 
on  thinking  it  over  there  seems  a  way  out  of  this  reasoning. 
The  list  of  the  authors  consulted  by  him  proves  clearly  that 
Ortelius  could  not  have  obtained  the  existence  of  that  bay 
and  strait  from  any  other  source  than  a  chart  of  Cabot's. 
That  Cabot  in  his  charts  had  marked  a  strait  in  those  parts  and 
at  that  height  is  proved  by  the  testimony  of  several  persons 
who  had  seen  and  studied  those  charts.  It  follows  then  that 
Ortelius  had  under  his  eyes  some  other  chart  than  that 
preserved  at  Paris  ;  in  fact  Sir  Humphrey  speaks  of  charts 
preserved  in  the  gallery  of  Whitehall,  not  of  a  single  chart. 

Here  I  think  best  to  recall  what  we  elsewhere  observed,  that 
it  was  forbidden  under  pain  of  death  for  the  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  pilots  to  trace  on  their  sailing-charts  any  sign  that 
could  put  other  countries  on  the  track  of  discovering  the  canal 
sought  for  and  which  opened  the  way  to  the  East  Indies.* 
The  chart,  from  which  the  copy  at  Paris  is  taken,  was  made 
whilst  Cabot  was  in  Spain,  and  even  if  he  had  wished  to  make 

*"  The  Spaniards  and  Portugals have  commanded  that,  no  pilot  of  theirs 

upon  paine  of  death,  should  plat  out  in  any  sea  card,  any  thorow  passage " 

Hakluyt,  iii,  p.  23  —  G.  B.  Belloro  in  his  "Elogio  di  Leone  Pancaldo"  re- 
ports a  notarial  act  of  September  30,  1531,  by  which  Pancaldo,  a  companion  of 
Magellan,  bound  himself  to  the  King  of  Portugal  for  the  sum  of  2000  ducats 
not  to  teach  anyone  the  new  way  discovered  to  the  Moluccas,  and  not  to  make 


134  THE  LIFE  OE  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

his  discovery  known  of  the  bay  which  was  afterwards  named 
from  Hudson,  and  the  two  channels  communicating  with  it,  he 
could  give  no  hint  of  it,  for  to  do  so  would  have  been  to  sign 
his  own  condemnation.  But  when  he  wTas  in  England,  beyond 
all  danger  from  Spain,  he  added  that  correction  to  his  plani- 
sphere. We  must  then  presume  that  the  copies  mentioned  by 
Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  and  that  used  by  Ortelius  were  taken 
from  the  planisphere  corrected  and  improved  by  the  addition 
of  this  discovery. 

It  is  then  beyond  question  that  Sebastian  Cabot  had 
sailed  through  the  strait  which  gave  immortal  fame  to  the 
name  of  Hudson;  he  knew  the  bay,  had  seen  its  expanse  south- 
wards, and  indicated  that  there  was  a  passage  through  it  into  a 
new  channel  towards  the  north. 

But  in  which  of  his  voyages  did  he  make  this  discovery  ? 

It  could  not  have  been  in  either  of  the  voyages  of  1497 
and  1498  ;  what  we  know  of  them  excludes  it.  It  could  not 
have  been  in  the  period  from  1498  to  1512  in  which  we 
lose  sight  of  him,  for  the  only  sign  of  him  we  have  during 
that  period,  so  far  from  showing  him  to  us  in  such  distant  ex- 
peditions as  that  of  Hudson's  Bay,  represents  him,  on  the 
contrary,  in  the  care  and  anxiety  of  getting  together  a  few 
vessels  for  a  voyage  which  failed  precisely  on  account  of  the 
poverty  and  scarcity  of  the  means  with  which  it  was  under- 
taken. *  Nothing  remains  then  but  the  expedition  of  1516. 
But  it  is  not  necessary  to  obtain  this  conclusion  from  negative 
proof  alone  :  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert's  own  words  place  this 
discovery  in  that  year.  Read  them  over  carefully,  and  you 
will  see  what  appears  to  me  quite  clear.  The  short  extract  we 
made  from  them  is  divided  in  two  parts  :  in  the  first  he  says 
that  Cabot  discovered  and  described  that  strait,  and  in  the  sec- 
ond, that  he  sailed  to  67°  30'  of  North  Latitude,  and  was 
obliged  to  return  by  the  mutiny  of  the  crews.  Are  the  two  parts 
separated  from  each  other  ?  No,  they  are  joined  closely  by 
means  of  the  present  participle  :  "  Sebastian  Cabota  by  his  per- 


any  geographical  chart  showing  it.    See  Qiornale  Ligustico  Feb.  e  Marzo,1875, 
p.  56". 
*  See  chapter  xix. 


DID  HUDSON  KNOW  OF  CABOT'S  DISCOVERY  ?  135 

sonal  experience  and  travell  hath  set  foorth  and   described 

this  passage and  entered  the  same  fret ;  affirmiyig 

that  he  sailed to  the  Septentrionall  latitude  of  G7i 

degrees  and  ....  that  he  might  and  would  have  gone  to 
Cataia  if  the  mutinie  of  the  Maister  and  Mariners  had  not 
bene."*  Then  the  two  things  form  a  single  whole  and  are 
inseparable  one  from  the  other.  But  we  know  from  Eden  that 
the  navigation  to  sixty-seven-and-a-half  degrees  and  the  mu- 
tiny of  the  crews  was  in  the  eighth  year  of  Henry  VIII,  or  in 
1516  :  therefore  the  discovery  of  the  strait  and  bay  was  like- 
wise in  that  year. 

At  first  sight  this  conclusion  appears  to  contradict  the  ac- 
count of  Richard  Willes  who  says  that  "  Cabot  ....  entered 
personally  that  straight,  sent  by  King  Henry  VII  to  make 
this  aforesaid  discovery."  But  a  careful  attention  to  the  whole 
of  his  words  will  show  that  he  mentions  Henry  VII,  not  in 
connection  with  the  particular  discovery  of  that  strait,  but  as 
a  general  mention  that  from  him  began  the  navigations  of  Se- 
bastian Cabot,  on  one  of  which  he  made  the  discovery  of  that 
strait.  In  other  words,  it  is  as  if  he  had  said  :  "  Sebastian 
Cabot,  sent  by  Henry  VII  to  discover  new  lands  in  the 
northern  seas,  entered  that  strait  which  is  the  commencement 
of  the  passage  now  sought  after."  If  we  had  any  doubt 
about  this  interpretation  it  would  be  dissipated  at  once  by 
the  instance  of  Ramusio,  whose  words  also,  as  we  saw  in 
the  last  chapter,  apparently  sound  as  though  Cabot  had 
reached  the  height  of  67  h  degrees  under  Henry  VII  : — "It 
was  written  me  by  Signor  Sebastian  Cabot ....  who  had 
sailed  above  this  land  of  New  France  at  the  cost  of  King  Henry 
VII  of  England,  and  he  told  me  how  having  proceeded  a 
great  distance  to  the  west  and  a  quarter  north-west,  .... 
as  far  as  67  degrees  and  a  half  ....  he  thought  ....  he 
could  pass  towards  Eastern  Cathay."  The  authority  of  Eden 
who  wrote  in  the  life-time  of  Cabot,  and  was  his  personal 
friend,  assures  as  with  absolute  precision  that  the  altitude  of 
67  degrees  and  a  half  was  reached  in  the  eighth  year  of  Henry 

*  App.  xxiii. 


136  THE  LIFE  OP  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

VIII  :  it  is  therefore  impossible  that  Sebastian  Cabot  in 
his  letter  to  Ramusio  put  it  in  the  time  of  Henry  VII.  How, 
then,  did  Ramusio  come  to  fetch  in  this  King?  For  the  same 
reason  that  Richard  Willes  did  so.  It  is  with  the  name  of 
Henry  VII  that  the  glorious  series  of  those  voyages  begins, 
and  the  image  of  the  one  who  had  first  opened  the  way  pre- 
sented itself  to  the  mind  of  the  historian  in  telling  of  their 
progress,  and  as  the  connection  of  the  two  records  appeared 
spontaneous  and  natural  to  his  mind,with  the  same  spontane- 
ity and  naturalness  he  joined  them  in  his  narrative. 

But  to  reach  67  h  degrees  it  is  not  enough  merely  to  enter 
Hudson  Strait  and  reach  the  Bay,  it  is  also  necessary  to  thread 
the  channel  running  into  it  from  the  North,  now  called  Fox 
Channel,  and  to  pass  up  it  a  good  distance.  At  that  altitude 
when  in  his  heated  fancy  he  was  admiring  the  sight  of 
the  smiling  regions  of  the  Grand  Khan,  the  master  of  the  ship 
warned  him  to  go  back,  and  he  was  backed  by  the  raging  and 
threatening  crew.  Fear  had  seized  possession  of  their  minds 
and  hearts  and  they  could  listen  to  no  reason  for  continuing 
their  course.  The  genius  of  the  Pilot  was  obliged  to  yield  to 
the  claims  of  the  master  and  the  violence  of  the  crew. 

The  heart  is  here  oppressed  with  the  painful  thought  of 
the  injustice  with  which  fame  is  distributed  to  men.  When 
Hudson  in  1610  immortalized  his  name  by  giving  it  to  the 
strait  and  bay,  94  years  had  passed  since  Sebastian  Cabot  had 
made  them  both  known  to  Europe,  and  not  a  palm  of  land  on 
the  surface  of  the  earth  bears  the  name  of  Cabot.  And  Hudson 
not  only  knew  of  the  previous  discovery  by  Sebastian  Cabot, 
but  his  whole  voyage  was  guided  by  the  notes  he  had  left  of 
it.  Of  this  there  is  no  doubt.  Among  the  various  names  he 
gave  the  new  lands  he  went  on  visiting,  there  was  even  that 
of  Hakluyt's  Headland.*  Hakluyt  was  the  famous  collector  of 
English  voyages  and  navigations,  a  work  to  which  we  have  had 
constant  occasion  to  refer.  It  is  evident  from  this  that  Hudson 
when  giving  his  name  to  a  promontory  in  the  new  lands 
wished  by  this  honor  to  attest  and  publish  his  gratitude  and 

*  Purchas,vol.  iii,p.464. 


INJUSTICE  OF  FAME.  -!.°>7 

that  of  the  English  for  the  meritorious  work  of  that  writer.  This 
proof  of  affection  and  acknowledgment  is  all  the  more  valu- 
able because  Hakluyt  was  still  living,  and  it  is  something  too 
rare  to  recognize  the  merits  of  living  persons.  Are  we  to  believe 
that  Hudson  whose  ambition  it  was  to  continue  the  struggles 
and  achievements  celebrated  by  Hakluyt,  had  never  looked 
into  his  book,  and  only  knew  him  by  the  fame  which  pro- 
claimed his  name  loudly  throughout  England  ?  The  supposi- 
tion is  absurd.  Others  may  have  read  his  works  out  of  zeal  of 
patriotic  affection  and  love  of  the  excitement  of  the  story  of  so 
many  heroic  deeds  and  such  endurance;  others  who  desired  to 
follow  in  the  same  path  and  furnish  materials  for  other  like 
histories,  must  have  read  them  through  the  enthusiasm  which 
bore  them  on  to  similar  achievements  and  for  instruction. 
Hudson  had  read  and  studied  Hakluyt,  and  he  had  seen  on 
page  16  of  the  third  volume  the  extract  from  Sir  Humphrey 
Gilbert  where  he  relates  that  Sebastian  Cabot  discovered  that 
strait,  and  that  he  had  found  it  designated  in  his  chart 
hung  in  the  gallery  at  Whitehall,  and  on  page  26  he  saw 
the  account  of  Richard  Willes  who  gave  also  the  latitude  of 
the  strait. 

Like  Frobisher  and  Hudson,  others  who  have  been  vaunted 
as  bold  and  hardy  discoverers  enlarging  our  knowledge  of 
North  America,  have  all  had  the  principal  points  of  the  path 
they  wanted  to  pursue  marked  out  for  them  in  the  narratives 
of  Peter  Martyr,  Eden,  Hakluyt,  Willes,  and  Purchas,  after 
the  report  of  Sebastian  Cabot.  But  they  all  had  the  rep- 
utation of  being  first,  and  hardly  in  the  shadow  is  there  a  sign 
of  the  name  of  the  Venetian  who  showed  them  the  way.* 

*  Biddle,  Memoir,  p.  263  and  s. 


138  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Return  to  Spain. 

Cabot  probably  returned  to  Spain  immediately  after  the 
return  of  this  expedition,  indignant  at  being  stopped  just  as 
he  stretched  forth  his  hand  to  seize  the  coveted  palm  of  vic- 
tory. But  in  whatever  way  the  expedition  had  resulted,  it 
was  in  Spain  a  triumph  for  him  that  his  work  had  been  so- 
licited by  England  which  had  tried  it  previously  in  other  nav- 
igations. This  was  the  most  effective  answer  he  could  make 
to  his  detractors  and  enemies  ;  and  his  genius  and  skill  must 
have  gained  greatly  in  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the  Gov- 
ernment there.  In  fact,  we  find,  not  long  after,  a  royal  or- 
dinance dated  at  Valladolid  February  5,  1518,  conferring  on 
him  the  office  of  Pilot-Major.*  He  was  the  third  that  attained 
to  this  rank.  The  first  was  Americo  Vespucci,  the  lucky 
Florentine  who  left  his  name  to  all  America ;  the  second  was 
John  Diaz  de  Solis,  the  famous  discoverer  of  the  Rio  de  la 
Plata.  +  Three  years  after  the  latter's  death  Sebastian  Cabot 
was  appointed  to  this  office,  the  salary  of  which  was  the  noble 
sum  of  125,000  maravedis  a  year.J  The  duties  of  the  office 
are  stated  in  the  letter  which  King  Ferdinand  wrote  to  Ves- 
pucci August  6,  1508,  when  it  was  instituted. 


*  Herrera,  Dec.  ii,  lib.  iii,  cap.vii.  "El  Rey  ....  diose  titulo  de  Piloto 
Mayor  al  Capitan  Sebastian  Gaboto,"  Dec.  ii,  lib.  ix,  cap.  vii. 

f  Herrera,  Dec.  i,  lib.  vii,  cap.  i.  —  Dec.  ii,  lib.  ii,  cap.  viii. 

%  Id.  ib.  —  "dal  Re  Ferdinando  fui  facto  capitano  cum  provisione  di  cin- 
quanta  ra.  maravedis,  poij  fui  facto  da  questo  Re  presente  (Carlo  V)  piloto  maior 
cum  provvisione  di  altri  50  m.  maravedis  et  per  adiuto  di  cose  mi  da  poij  25  m. 

maravedis  cbe  sono  in  tutto  125  m.  maravedis "  See  App.  xxvi. — It  was 

the  salary  fixed  for  that  office  when  Vespucci  was  appointed,  — 'See  Navarrete, 
iii.  178,  pp.  300,301. 


WOLSEY  INVITES  HIM  TO  HETURN.  139 

The  Pilot-Major  was  charged  with  the  examination  of  Pilots 
in  the  use  of  the  Astrolabe  and  Quadrant,  ascertaining 
whether  they  joined  theory  to  practice,  giving  certificates, 
giving  them  instructions  for  which  they  were  to  pay  him, 
and  with  presiding  over  the  construction  of  aPadron  or  model 
chart,  which  was  to  be  called  Padron  Real  (Royal  Model) 
and  to  be  successively  corrected  and  improved  from  the  in- 
formation which  all  Pilots  coming  from  the  Indies  were 
obliged  to  submit  to  the  Casa  de  Contratacion  in  Seville.* 

The  Pilot-Major  resided  at  Seville  near  "La  Casa  de  Con- 
tratacion de  las  Indias,"  (Ministry  of  Indian  affairs)  established 
in  that  city  in  1503.  To  the  ministry  was  annexed,  though 
in  what  year  is  not  known,  a  chair  of  cosmography  the  first 
occupant  of  which  must  have  been  Sebastian  Cabot  as  it 
would  seem  from  the  Index  of  Professors  as  given  by 
Navarrete.f  From  the  king's  letter  to  Americo  Vespucci,  it 
appears  that  the  Pilot-Major  by  virtue  of  his  office  was 
"Censor  of  the  Professor  of  cosmography." 

Two  years  later,  in  1520,  Herrera  relates  a  second  time  the 
conferring  of  the  position  of  Pilot-Major,  but  with  the  ad- 
dition of  an  order  of  the  Emperor  that  no  pilot  should  go  to 
the  Indies  without  the  examination  and  approval  of  Cabot4 
But  it  is  not  clear  from  his  words  whether  this  order  was  an 
addition  made  in  that  year  to  the  authority  of  the  Pilot- 
Major,  or  it  referred  to  the  duty  of  examining  pilots  in  general, 
inherent  in  the  office  from  the  beginning.  From  the  account 
of  Ramusio's  anonymous  it  would  seem  to  refer  to  the  gen- 
eral examination,  and  that  this  charge  was  included  in  the 
rights  and  duties  of  the  Pilot-Major.     "Do  you  not  know,"  he 

*  ". . .  y  porque  a  los  que  no  supieron  mas  facilmente  lo  puedan  aprender  vos 
mandamos  que  les  enseneis  en  vuestra  casa  en  Sevilla  ;i  todos  los  que  lo 
quesieren  saber,  pagandovos  vuestro  trabajo."  —  Navarrete  iii,  n.  7,  p.  301. 

f  ". .  .  se  establicio  la  catedra  de  cosmografia  y  navegaclon  que  explicabael 
cosraografo  de  la  casa  como  lo  hicieran  Sebastian  Caboto,  Alonso  de  Chaves,  Alonso 
de  santa  Cruz." — Navarrete,  Disertacion  sobre  la  historia  de  la  Nautica,  Ma- 
drid, 1846,  p.  134. 

X  "  Diose  titulo  de  Piloto  Maior  a  Sebastian  Gaboto  con  orden  que  ningun 
Piloto  pasase  ba  las  Indias  sin  ser  primero  por  el  examinado  i  aprobado."— Dec. 
ii,  lib.  ix,  cap.  vii. 


140  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

says,  "in  connection  with  this  going  to  find  the  Indies  by 
the  north,  what  was  done  by  a  Venetian  citizen  of  yours, 
who  was  so  able  and  experienced  in  matters  pertaining  to 
navigation  and  cosmography  that  there  is  not  his  equal  in 
Spain  to-day,  and  his  knowledge  caused  him  to  be  placed 
over  all  the  pilots  that  sail  to  the  West  Indies,  so  that  they 
cannot  do  so  without  a  license  from  him,  and  on  this  account 
he  is  called  Pilot-Major  f"  *  But  on  the  other  hand,  if  it  was  to 
be  understood  as  a  duty  inherent  in  the  office  itself,  why 
should  Herrera  have  made  special  mention  of  that  examina- 
tion and  approval  ?  If  one  went  with  the  other,  when  the 
first  was  told  the  second  would  be  understood,  and  Herrera's 
repetition  becomes  useless.  Hence  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
that  the  first  examination  regarded  in  general  all  those  who 
wished  to  take  up  the  career  of  a  pilot,  and  that  the  second 
was  a  special  examination  of  those  pilots  who  leaving  our 
waters  wanted  to  navigate  the  seas  of  the  West  Indies. 

However  this  may  have  been,  it  is  certain  that  Sebastian 
Cabot  was  placed  in  very  high  and  extensive  authority,  and  this 
appointment  alone  ought  to  be  enough  to  give  his  name  an 
honorable  place  in  the  glorious  band  of  navigators  in  that 
age.  But  however  high  the  office  or  important,  its  nature  was 
such  as  to  furnish  the  historian  with  but  few  details  to  record. 
The  year  following  his  appointment  as  Pilot-Major  of  Spain, 
or  about  that  time,f  we  find  him  again  in  England,  but  the 
cause  of  his  going  thither  is  not  known.  On  this  occasion 
Cardinal  Wolsey,  the  prime  minister  of  Henry  VIII  and 
all  powerful  in  English  affairs,  sent  for  him  and  made  him 
great  offers  if  he  would  reenter  the  service  of  England 
and  make  new  expeditions  and  discoveries  for  her.  But  he 
excused  himself  on  the  ground  that  he  could  not  accept  with- 
out the  permission  of  the  King  of  Spain  to  whose  service  he 
was  bound.  He  would  gladly  do  it  if  he  had  that  permission. 
At  this  time  he  met  a  Friar  Stragliano  Collona,  a  Venetian, 


*  Delle  namgazioni  et  Viaggi,  loc,  cit.  p.  414.  D. 

f   "  24  Decembre,  1522 hor  ritro^adomi  ja  tre  anni,  salvo  il  vero,  in 

Ingleterra."  App.  xxvi. 


PROPOSALS  TO  VENICE.  141 

for  whom  he  entertained  great  friendship,  and  who  said 
to  him  :  "  Master  Sebastian,  you  take  such  pains  to  benefit 
foreign  countries,  forgetting  your  own.  Might  it  not  be  pos- 
sible that  it  also  might  have  some  aid  from  you  ?"*  These 
words  made  a  deep  impression  on  Sebastian,  who  at  the  time 
replied  that  he  would  reflect  on  it,  and  the  friar  coming  back 
to  him  the  next  day  told  him  that  he  had  a  way  of  making 
Venice  a  sharer  in  his  navigations  and  could  show  him  how 
it  would  be  greatly  to  his  advantage.  Since  he  could  not 
have  done  this  if  he  accepted  Cardinal  Wolsey's  proposal,  he 
wrote  secretly  to  Spain  not  to  give  him  permission  to  enter 
the  service  of  England,  but  to  recall  him  at  once  to  Seville, 
as  was  done.f 

Sebastian  Cabot  himself  related  these  things  to  Caspar  Con- 
tarini,  Venetian  ambassador  to  Spain,  and  we  cannot  add  a  syl- 
lable to  his  account  or  take  one  from  it,  for  he  is  the  only  wit- 
ness to  his  own  words. 

Still  for  the  nonce  he  took  no  action  on  the  new  proposi- 
tion, but  kept  reflecting  on  it  and  maturing  it  in  his  mind. 
Perhaps  the  delay  arose  from  the  difficulty  he  saw  in  the  way 
of  drawing  Venice  into  the  benefits  of  the  navigation  of  the 
New  World.  Meanwhile  at  Seville  he  contracted  a  close 
friendship  with  a  Jerome  de  Marin  de  Busignole  from  Ragusa 
in  Dalmatia,  and  knowing  that  he  was  about  to  proceed  to 
Venice  opened  himself  to  him  under  a  vow  of  secrecy,  and  en- 
gaged him  to  appear  in  his  name  before  the  council  of  Ten 
and  make  known  his  intention  of  asking  to  be  allowed  to  ap- 
pear before  them  in  person  for  the  purpose  of  declaring  by 
word  of  mouth  what  he  had  in  his  mind.J 

In  September  1522  the  Ragusan  executed  the  commission.§ 
The  Ten  were  in  some  doubt  as  to  the  seriousness  of  the  pro- 
posal, but  considering  it  to  be  a  matter  of  grave  importance, 
were  unwilling  to  let  it  fall  through.  With  the  usual  prudence 
and  astuteness  of  that  famous  council  they  warily  sent  in  ad- 

*  "  Messer  Sebastiano  vui  vi  ;iff;iticati  cussi  grandemente  per  far  beneficio  a 
irenti  externe  non  viaricordnte  della  vostra  terra,  non  seria  possibile  cbeetiam 
lei  havesse  qualche  utilitft  da  vui  ?" —  App.  xxvi. 

t  lb.  %  lb-  §  APP-  xxv- 


142  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

vance  to  ascertain  what  foundation  there  was  for  a  good  result 
Rewarding  the  Ragusan  for  his  pains  with  a  sum  of  money,* 
they  made  him  write  to  Sebastian  that  it  would  give  the  Ten 
pleasure  to  receive  him.  This  letter  they  themselves  sent  to 
the  Venetian  ambassador  in  Spain,  informing  him  of  the 
matter,  and  intrusting  him  to  remit  it  directly  or  by  the 
safest  means  to  Cabot's  hands.  The  ambassador  was  to  pre- 
tend to  know  nothing  unless  Sebastian  himself  should  disclose 
it,  and  then  he  was  to  try  to  learn  his  sentiments  from  his  own 
lips,  as  far  as  possible,  and  see  if  he  had  any  good  foundation 
for  his  action,  f 

On  Christmas  Eve,  1522,  Sebastian  was  at  the  Venetian 
ambassador's  house  by  his  invitation  and  received  the  letter 
in  a  secret  conference.  He  changed  color  on  reading  it  and 
remained  for  some  time  in  doubt  and  alarm  without  saying  a 
word.J  The  intrusion  of  a  third  person  in  what  should  have 
been  a  secret  between  the  Ragusan  and  himself  excited  a  sus- 
picion of  treachery  ;  but  he  was  soon  reassured  on  the  am- 
bassador's telling  him  that  he  had  been  informed  of  the  mat- 
ter by  the  council  of  Ten  with  orders  to  deliver  to  him 
the  letter.  The  conversation  was  interrupted  for  the  moment, 
because  the  ambassador  was  called  away,  but  was  resumed 
later  in  the  evening  and  continued  at  great  length.  In  this 
conversation  besides  what  we  have  related  of  Cardinal  Wolsey 's 
offer  and  the  complaint  of  Friar  Stragliano  Collona  and  the 
subsequent  reflections  of  Sebastian  Cabot,  the  latter  also  re- 
lated that  he  had  at  other  times  thought  of  transferring  to  his 


*  "1522.  Die  27  Septembris  in  Collegio  intervenientibus  et  ballotantibus,  dom- 
inis  Capitibus  IllustrissimisConcili  X. 

"  Chel  sia  imposto  al  Camerlengo  del  Consiglio  nostro  dei  X,  che  deidenari 
della  cassa  sua,  dar  debbi  in  dono  ducati  vinti  a  Domino  Hieronimo  de  Marin 
Raguseo  pro  bona  causa. 
+16 

—4  Facto  raandato. 

—0  "ArchiviodeiFrari,  Venezia,  Consiglio  dei  Dieci,  Lettere  sottoscritte,  Filza 
N.  5,  1522." 

f  App.  xxv. 

X  "  Io  ritiratomi  con  lui,  li  detti  lalettera,  lui  la  lesse  et  legiendola  si  mosse* 
tutto  di  colore.  Da  poij  letta,  stete  cussi  un  pocheto  senza  dirmi  altro  quasi 
sbiggotito  et  dubbio."   lb. 


PROPOSALS  TO  VENICE.  143 

own  country  of  Venice  the  benefit  of  his  navigations,  and  had 
talked  on  the  subject  with  the  Venetian  Ambassador  in  Eng- 
land. But  he  says  nothing  of  the  result  of  this  conversation, 
and  we  have  been  unable  to  find  any  trace  of  it  elsewhere. 
Contarini  was  charged  to  find  out  from  Sebastian  in  what 
way  he  intended  to  conduct  his  undertaking,  so  as  to  inform 
the  council,  and  subsequently  Sebastian  would  have  been  able 
to  appear  before  them  in  person.  But  Cabot  replied  that  he 
would  only  disclose  his  plan  to  the  chief  of  the  Ten,  and  for 
that  purpose  would  proceed  to  Venice  under  the  pretext  of 
recovering  his  mother's  dower.  So  far  they  were  agreed. 
But  Contarini,  who  could  not  well  have  liked  Sebastian's  re- 
fusal to  disclose  to  him  his  secret,  after  admitting  that  the 
undertaking  if  successful  would  be  of  very  great  advantage  to 
Venice,  began  to  raise  very  serious  doubts  of  the  possibility 
of  success,  founded  on  the  situation  of  Venice  in  relation  to 
the  new  lands  to  which  he  would  have  to  sail.  But  Sebastian 
held  firm  to  his  refusal  to  explain,  saying  only  "I  know  ;  for 
I  have  navigated  all  those  countries,  and  I  know  it  all  well,"* 
and  again  asserted  that  he  had  not  accepted  England's  offer, 
because  if  he  had  done  so  uno  way  would  have  remained  for 
Venice."  Returning  to  the  subject  a  few  days  later,  Contarini 
repeated  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  plan,  and  Sebastian 
cut  short  all  discussion  with  these  words  :  "  And  I  tell  you 
that  the  way  and  the  manner  are  plain.  I  will  go  to  Venice 
at  my  own  expense,  they  will  hear  me,  and  if  the  plan  I  have 
thought  out  does  not  please  them,  I  will  come  back  also  at  my 
own  expense,  "f 

After  these  first  conversations  Sebastian  returned  frequently 
to  the  ambassdor's,  repeating  his  determination  to  go  to 
Venice  to  perform  what  he  had  promised.^  But  the  others  did 
not  show  the  same  eagerness.  Finally,  on  the  7th  of  March, 
he  notified  the  ambassador  that  he  was  obliged  to  suspend 

*  lb. 

f"  et  io  vi  dico  che  la  via  ed  il  modo  e  facile.  Anderd  a  Veuetia  a  mie  spese, 
me  udirauno  ne  piacendoli  il  modo  per  me  excogitato,  io  mi  ritornero  pur  a 
mie  spese."  lb, 

%  App.  xxvii. 


144  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

for  a  while  his  request  for  permission  to  proceed  to  Venice,  for 
fear  lest  it  should  be  suspected  that  he  intended  going  to  Eng- 
land; and  that  the  suspension  would  last  three  months.  He 
urged  that  in  the  meantime  a  letter  should  be  sent  him  from 
Venice,  of  the  same  tenor  as  that  written  to  the  Ragusan,  in 
which  under  pretext  of  recovering  his  mother's  dower  they 
should  give  him  an  excuse  for  going  to  speak  to  the  Council 
of  Ten.*  The  Council  of  Ten  with  unfortunate  slowness  neg- 
lected to  answer  the  letter  of  December  31,1522,  in  which  Con- 
tarini  related  his  conference  with  Cabot;  and  only  aroused 
themselves  when  they  received  the  second  of  March  7,  1523,  in 
which  the  ambassador,  after  mentioning  Sebastian's  repeated 
visits  and  insistance,  wrote  that  he  had  requested  to  put  off 
his  going  to  Venice  for  three  months  for  safety's  sake,  fearing 
that  if  he  asked  permission  to  leave  at  that  time  they  would 
regard  it  as  a  proof  that  he  was  going  to  England.  That  after 
that  period  he  would  go  to  Venice.  And  that  in  the  mean- 
while he  recommended  that  they  should  have  the  Ragusan 
write  him  as  they  had  done  before  urging  him  to  proceed  to 
Venice  to  arrange  his  affairs.  Then  the  council  at  last  replied 
and  sent  the  letter  in  the  Ragusan 's  name  which  Sebastian  had 
requested.-)-  The  pretext  for  sending  for  him  was  his  mother 
and  his  aunt's  dower  for  the  recovery  of  which  the  Ragusan 
said  he  had  labored,  but  his  personal  presence  was  absolutely 
necessary. :(:  On  July  26  Contarini  wrote  again  to  the  Ten 
saying  that  he  had  delivered  to  Sebastian  the  letter  written 
him  in  the  Ragusan's  name;  and  that  he  said  he  was  still  firm 
in  his  intention  and  would  take  steps  to  obtain  the  per- 
mission to  leave  from  the  Spanish  Government,! 

This  is  the  last  word  we  have  been  able  to  find  on  the  sub- 
ject. What  further  happened  ?  It  may  be  that  Sebastian 
distrusted  that  in  the  length  of  the  negotiations,  the  many 
dispatches  to  and  fro,  something  might  leak  out  and  get 
to  the  ears  of  the  Spanish  Government,  and  cause  him 
trouble,  and  therefore  prudently  let  the  matter  drop.  If  so, 
Contarini,  who  from  the  first  conference  had  manifested  very 


*Ib.  f  lb.  %  App.  xxix.  §  App.  xxx. 


harrisse's  charge  of  perfidy.  145 

little  confidence  in  his  proposal,  would  certainly  not  have 
run  after  him  to  renew  negotiations.  But  in  spite  of  Cabot's 
protests,  I  think  it  much  more  probable  that  he  was  driven  to 
apply  to  Venice  not  so  much  by  patriotic  affection,  as  by  his 
own  need,  because  he  saw  no  other  way  of  carrying  out  his 
plans.  It  surely  was  not  for  the  sedentary  and  peaceful  life 
of  an  office-holder  that  he  went  to  Spain,  however  lucrative 
and  honorable  the  office  may  have  been  ;  his  heart  could  not 
but  sigh  for  voyages  and  discoveries,  and  must  have  fretted 
greatly  in  that  quiet  occupation  where  he  passed  his  time  over 
charts  and  examinations.  In  this  discontented  condition  his 
thoughts  strayed  to  Venice,  and  he  was  pleased  with  the  hope 
that  in  following  his  patriotic  affections,  he  might  break  his 
chains  and  find  an  arm  and  a  flag  to  carry  him  through  the 
battle  of  the  sea.  But  after  he  had  sent  the  Ragusan  to  Venice, 
there  returned  to  Spain  from  the  Moluccas  the  ship,  "Vic- 
toria," which  had  taken  part  in  Magellan's  expedition  ;  and 
this  return  at  once  aroused  thoughts  and  plans  of  new  expedi- 
tions. *  May  it  not  have  been  that  the  hopes  excited  in 
Cabot  by  this  new  order  of  things  weakened  his  intention 
of  applying  to  Venice  ?  For,  although  he  assured  Contarini 
that  the  undertaking  he  proposed  to  his  native  country  was 
easy  and  sure,  it  is  impossible  but  he  should  have  felt  the 
force  of  the  arguments  brought  against  it  by  that  very  learned 
ambassador. f  For  my  part,  I  stick  to  this  latter  explanation, 
and  am  confirmed  in  it  by  observing  the  same  thing  occurr- 
ing again,  as  we  shall  see,  in  similar  circumstances  in  Eng- 
land. 

Harrisse  calls  Sebastian  Cabot's  plan  of  going  to  Venice 
perfidious.  Oh,  why  ?  Perfidious  is  one  who  breaks  faith 
with  another.  What  obligation  had  Sebastian  Cabot  towards 
Spain  ?     That  of  fulfilling  the  duties  incumbent  on  the  office 

*  The  Victoria  returned  to  Spain  September  8,  1522,  and  the  Senate  of 
Venice  on  the  22nd  of  the  same  month  wrote  to  its  ambassador  in  Spain  the  offer 
of  Sebastian  Cabot.     Therefore  his  offer  was  before  the  return  of  the  vessel. 

f  See  App.  xxvi. — Caspar  Contarini,  afterwards  Cardinal,  was  a  man  of 
profound  and  extensive  learning.  Peter  Martyr  d'  Anghiera  applied  to  him 
when  he  met  with  any  difficult  question  of  geography  or  cosmography  in  writ- 

10 


146  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

of  Pilot-Major.  Did  he  ever  fail  in  any  of  them  ?  Neither 
Harrisse  nor  anybody  else  ever  said  so,  or  can  say  so.  What 
he  offered  to  Venice  was  outside  of  the  duty  of  a  Pilot-Major. 
It  cannot  even  be  said  that  the  plan  he  proposed  to  Venice 
originated  or  was  in  any  way  helped  by  his  office  of  Pilot-Ma- 
jor, for  his  idea  of  discovering  a  passage  to  the  regions  of  the 
East  across  the  New  World  was  many  years  prior  to  his  ac- 
ceptance of  that  office.  Is  a  man  of  honor  forbidden  to  make 
use  of  the  most  valuable  thing  at  his  disposal  ? — But  Spain 
would  have  been  greatly  injured  ? — And  what  of  that  ? — There 
is  never  a  new  invention  that  while  the  most  useful  for  some 
is  not  injurious  to  others  :  it  is  the  natural  order  of  things. 
And  precisely  in  this  matter  of  discovery  the  prosperity  and 
wealth  of  Spain  and  Portugal  mortally  wounded  and  killed 
the  prosperity  and  wealth  of  Venice.  If  Spain  broke  no 
moral  law  when  for  her  own  interests  she  carried  off  from 
her  ally,  unwary  England,  the  science  and  ability  of  Sebastian 
Cabot,  why  should  he  be  branded  with  perfidy  in  offering  to  his 
native  land  the  surplus  of  ability  and  science  which  Spain 
showed  no  inclination  to  make  use  of  ?  For  it  is  well  to  re- 
member that  Sebastian  Cabot's  office  was  purely  sedentary 
and  none  at  this  time  had  talked  of  employing  him  in  navi- 
gation and  discovery.  Indeed,  at  the  first  likelihood  of  his  be- 
ing so  employed  he  cut  off  his  negotiations  with  Venice  and 
was  wholly  at  Spain's  disposal. 

And  this  is  to  act  perfidiously  ! 

In  the  course  of  this  same  year  1523,  under  date  of  Novem- 
ber 16,  we  find  10,000  maravedis  deducted  from  his  salary  as 
Pilot-Major  for  the  benefit  of  Maria  Cerezo,  widow  of  Am- 
erico  Vespucci,  as  had  been  done  before  from  the  salary  of 
De  Solis.*  The  year  following,  at  the  end  of  May,  in  a  note  of 
the  funeral  expenses  of  Sir  Thomas  Lovel,  K.  G.  we  find  a 
memorandum  of  reimbursement  of  a  certain    John  Goderyk, 


ing  his  history.  "Agitatus  es  cura,"  be  says  in  one  case  of  this  kind,  "conveni 
gasparem  Coutarinium,  oratorem  apud  Caesarem  pro  sua  Illustri  Republica 
Veneta,  omni  litterarum  genere  non  mediocriter  eruditum,"  Dec,  v,  7. 
*Navarrete,  L.  iii,  Doc.  xi,  xiv,  pp.  308,  311, 


Magellan's  discovery.  147 

for  bringing  Sebastian  Cabot  to  London  at  the  request  of  the 
deceased.*  In  the  absence  of  all  other  information  we  can 
merely  record  the  fact. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


Repeated  attempts  to  find  a  passage  through  the  new  lands  of 
America  to  reach  the  eastern  shore  of  Asia. — Magellan. — Resent- 
ment of  Portugal  against  Spain  on  account  of  his  voyage. 

We  have  at  last  reached  a  place  where  we  are  no  longer 
obliged  to  grope  our  way,  but  may  run  on  swiftly  for  a  while. 
But  before  going  back  to  speak  directly  of  Sebastian  Cabot, 
I  deem  it  best  to  cast  a  glance  around  us  to  recognize  the 
place  and  time  in  which  we  now  are.  Let  not  the  reader 
take  it  ill  if  I  go  back  a  little  and  refresh  his  memory  of  some 
things.  If  for  a  moment  I  leave  the  straight  path  of  our 
story,  the  short  time  spent  will  be  well  rewarded  by  the  greater 
clearness  acquired  by  the  things  we  shall  afterwards  say. 

The  problem  which  at  this  time  agitated  the  mind  of  Span- 
ish mariners  was  the  same  which  troubled  the  English  sea- 
men's mind,  to  find  a  way  across  the  new  countries  of  Amer- 
ica which  allowed  direct  navigation  from  our  regions  to  those 
of  the  extreme  east.  But  many  as  the  reasons  were  which 
counselled  England  to  seek  it  by  way  of  the  north,  Spain 
had  just  as  many  to  lead  her  to  seek  it  instead  by  way  of  the 
south. 

Before  Spain,  the  Portuguese  had  labored  to  discover  a  pas- 
sage south  of  Brazil,  but  in  consequence  of  the  unsatisfactory 

*"Item  paide  the  XVIIth  day  of  feb.  to  John  Goderyk  of  Tory  in  the  countie 
of  Cornewall  drap  in  full  satysfacon  and  recompense  of  his  charge  costis  and 
labour  conductyng  of  Sebastian  Cabott  master  of  the  Pylotes  in  Spayne  to 
London  at  the  request  of  the  testator  by  Indenture  of  covenauntes43s4d." 

"'Expenses  of  the  funeral  of  sir  Thorn.  Lovell,  knt.  of  the  gaiter,  who  died  at 
his  manor  of  Essynges,  in  Endfield,  Midlesex,  25  may  1524,  paid  by  his  ex- 
ecutors." I.  S.  Brewer,  Calendar  Domestic  and  Foreign,  Henry  VIII,  t.  iv,  Part. 
i,  p.  154,  N.  366. 


148  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

results  of  the  expeditions  of  1501  and  1503,  they  had 
given  up  the  thought  and  turned  all  their  attention  again  to 
the  passage  which  the  fortunes  of  Vasco  de  Gama  had  opened. 
Thus  while  the  Spaniards  wore  themselves  out  in  looking  for 
a  passage  by  which  to  bring  the  treasures  of  Asia  across  the 
West  Indies,  the  Portuguese,  partly  by  treaties  and  partly  by 
wars,  went  on  extending  their  possessions  in  the  East  Indies 
and  the  hope  of  new  and  unheard-of  wealth  for  their  country. 
Among  their  most  distinguished  officers  in  these  conquests 
was  Ferdinand  de  Magalhaens  or,  as  he  is  usually  named  in  his- 
tory, Magellan,  who  from  the  experience  acquired  in  those 
regions  and  the  study  and  reflection  he  joined  with  experience, 
conscious  of  his  ability  not  only  to  leave  the  common  herd  of 
officers,  but  also  to  rise  to  first  amongst  the  first,  returned  to 
Europe  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  from  his  King  a  mission 
worthy  of  the  gifts  he  felt  he  possessed.  But  his  hope  was 
altogether  frustrated.  Then  exasperated  at  his  King  and 
country,  he  took  himself  to  Spain  and  offered  his  services  to 
Charles  V,  persuading  him  that  the  Molucca  Islands  in  the  Ind- 
ian Ocean  over  which  Portugal  had  already  extended  her  do- 
minion, were  beyond  the  line  of  partition  and  belonged  to 
Spain  ;  and  he  offered  to  take  Spanish  vessels  thither,  dis- 
covering the  passage  so  long  sought  after  in  the  seas  of  South 
America. 

His  proposal  was  favorably  entertained  and  preparations 
begun. 

When  this  was  known  in  Portugal  there  was  great  excite* 
ment  as  at  an  attempt  on  the  rights  of  the  Portuguese  Crown, 
and  strong  remonstrance  was  made  to  the  court  of  Spain. 
Prayers  and  threats  were  tried  in  turn  on  Magellan,  to  calm 
his  resentment  or  frighten  him  into  withdrawing  from  the  en- 
terprise for  which  he  was  preparing  :  his  assassination 
was  even  openly  spoken  of,  saying  that  a  perjured  citizen  who 
attempted  such  injury  to  his  country  merited  the  crudest 
death.*  When  all  this  failed,  recourse  was  had  to  ridicule, 
turning  into  jest  Magellan's  presumption,  his  dreams,  and 


*  "y  otros  aconsenjavan  que  los  matassen,  porqueel  negocio  que  tratavan,  era 
perjudicial  a  Portugal."    Herrera,  Dec.  ii,  lib.  iv,  cap.  10 


DISPUTE  BETWEEN  SPAIN  AND  PORTUGAL.  149 

Spain's  credulity.*  But  this  new  weapon  proved  us  blunt 
as  the  others,  and  on  September  20,  1519,  Magellan  sailed. 

It  is  outside  of  our  subject  to  relate  the  endless  labors,  the 
hunger,  the  struggles  endured  by  Magellan's  expedition  ;  the 
fierce  energy  with  which  he  dragged  after  him  rebellious 
officers  and  sailors  ;  his  death  at  the  moment  of  victory  ;  the 
rage  of  the  Portuguese  and  the  cruel  war  they  made  on  the 
weak  remnant  of  the  glorious  expedition.  For  our  purpose 
it  suffices  to  record  that  on  September  8,  1522,  more  than 
three  years  after  the  sailing  of  the  expedition,  the  news  reached 
Spain  that  the  passage  to  the  East  Indies  across  the 
New  World  was  found,  and  that  the  Spanish  flag  had 
made  the  circuit  of  the  globe. 

But  of  the  five  ships  that  sailed,  only  the  Victoria  returned 
to  Spain,  and  of  all  the  bold  and  hardy  youths  that  were  on 
the  five  ships,  only  18  men  saw  their  native  land  again. 

The  losses  suffered  by  the  expedition  in  men  and  property 
were  enormous  ;  but  after  the  discovery  of  the  New  World, 
the  greatest  and  most  glorious  of  so  many  glorious  enterprises, 
in  "those  days  so  celebrated  for  the  feverish  activity  of  discover- 
ies and  navigations,  was  the  finding  of  the  much-sought  pas- 
sage through  the  American  lands  to  those  of  the  East,  and 
making  the  circuit  all  around  the  World.  The  rejoicing  over 
the  great  event  prevented  grief  and  complaint  from  being 
heard,  and  the  great  hopes  it  gave  of  the  future  compensated 
with  interest  the  losses  of  the  present.  Whilst  on  one  hand, 
the  fancy  of  adventurers,  of  men  of  letters,  of  all  who  were 
interested  in  the  glory  of  those  discoveries,  roamed  on  the  new 
broad  horizons  which  Magellan's  discovery  had  opened,  the 
greed  of  merchants  seized  anxiously  on  the  specimens  which 
the  Victoria  brought  back,  and  counted  the  vast  wealth  which 
that  discovery  promised.  Orders  were  at  once  given  to  pre- 
pare a  fleet  for  those  parts,  and  when  it  sailed  they  set  to 
work  to  fit  out  another  to  follow  it  as  soon  as  might  be.f 

♦"Decian  los  Portugueses  que  el  Rey  de  Castilla  perderia  el  gusto  porque 
Hernando  de  Magallanes  era  hombre  hablador  i  de  poca  substancia,  i  que  non 
saldria  con  lo  que  prometia.  " — Id.  ib. 

f  "  Se  avia  mandato,  que  luogo  se  apercibiesse  una  armada,  y  que  partida 


150  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

But  great  as  was  the  rejoicing  which  the  return  of  the  Vic- 
toria spread  over  all  Spain,  not  less  strong  and  loud  was  the 
wail  of  sorrow  throughout  Portugal.  Every  one  saw  and  felt 
that  the  meddling  of  another  Power  in  the  treasures  of  those 
regions  was  a  disaster  to  the  commerce  of  Portugal,  the  con- 
sequences of  which  were  beyond  calculation.  When  the  King 
learned  of  the  preparations  making  to  send  another  fleet 
to  the  Moluccas,  he  began  to  storm  the  Spanish  Monarch 
with  remonstrances,  using  prayers  and  threats,  every  means 
possible,  to  stay  Spain  at  that  first  step  ;  and  proposed 
that  the  matter  should  be  suspended  until  it  was  ascertained 
whether  the  Moluccas  were  on  this  side  or  that  of  the  line  of 
partition.* 

The  Emperor  saw  clearly  what  was  Portugal's  object  in  mak- 
ing this  proposal :  it  was  to  stop  the  Spaniards  in  their  prep- 
arations for  the  expedition,  so  that  he  might  gain  the  time 
needed  to  place  arms  and  ships  enough  in  those  islands  to 
use  force,  when  other  means  failed,  and  save  his  Kingdom 
from  the  threatened  ruin.  But  it  was  important  for  Charles 
V,  engaged  as  he  then  was  in  a  war  with  Francis  I,  King  of 
France,  troubled  with  the  Reform  in  Germany,  and  constantly 
threatened  with  revolt  in  Spain,  not  to  bring  on  himself  this 
new  enemy.  On  the  other  hand,  the  question  of  the  right  of  pos- 
session had  been  so  thoroughly  studied  and  discussed  before 
Magellan's  proposal  was  accepted  that  he  could  afford  to  wait 
calmly  for  the  report  of  a  commission.  He  therefore  showed 
a  good  face  to  King  John's  proposal,  and  it  was  agreed  to  re- 
mit the  question  to  a  conference  of  competent  persons  nomi- 

aqtiella,  se  pusiesse  otra  a  punto,  que  la  siguiesse."     Hcrrera,  Dec.  iii,  lib.  vi, 
cap.  5. 

*  "El  Rey  don  Ivan  de  Portugal,  que  de  todo  era  avisado,  pareciendole  que 
se  le  salia  de  las  manos,  el  mejor  y  mas  rico  aprovecnamiento  que  tenia,  hizo 
muchos  oficios  con  el  Hey,  para  que  no  se  embiasse  armada  a  las  islas  de  la  Es- 
peceria,  hasta  que  se  determinasse  a  quien  partenencian  :  y  que  no  se  le  hiz- 
iesse  tanto  dafio,  como  era  quitarle  su  aprovecnamiento,  ni  que  se  diesse  oca- 
sion  a  que  se  mntassen  los  Portugueses  con  los  Castellanos,  como  lo  harian 
topandose  la  una  armada  con  la  otra.  .  ."  Herrera,  Dec.  iii,  lib.  vii,  cap.  v. 
And  Pietro  Martire".  .  .  .quo  pacto  cum  Portugalensibus  concludetur,  qui  se 
iacturam  ingentem  perpessuros  ex  hoc  negocio  conqueruntur,  significabimus." 
Dec.  v,  cap.  vii. 


INTENDED  VOYAGE  TO  THE  MOLUCCAS.  151 

nated  by  both  sides.  *  The  Emperor  desired  to  associate  with 
the  conference,  a  committee  of  some  of  the  most  esteemed  cos- 
mographers  and  geographers  of  his  Kingdom,  to  aid  the  dis- 
cussion by  their  advice  and  report  to  him  on  its  progress.  Se- 
bastian Cabot  was  a  member  of  this  committee. f  The  conference 
met  in  April,  1524,  but  as  Portugal's  interest  was  to  have  mat- 
ters drag  on  as  slowly  as  possible,  there  was  much  discussion 
but  no  conclusion  come  to,  till  the  Spanish  Deputies  tired  of 
the  game  determined  to  end  it  and  on  May  31,  by  a  long  dec- 
laration with  their  reasons,  they  established  Spain's  right  to 
the  Molucca  Islands.^: 

As  soon  as  the  declaration  was  received  in  Spain,  govern- 
ment and  private  individuals  set  to  work  eagerly  to  make  up 
for  lost  time.  Not  two  months  had  elapsed  when,  on  July  24, 
Commander  Loaysa  sailed  from  Corunna  with  seven  ships  to 
help  Magellan's  men  who  had  been  left  in  the  islands  of  the 
Ocean,  and  secure  to  Spain  possession  of  the  Moluccas.§ 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Sebastian  Cabot  put  at  the  head  of  an  expedition  to  the  Moluccas. 

While  the  government  was  supplying  arms  and  provisions 
for  Loaysa's  fleet,  and  sending  it  to  the  new  possessions  in  the 

*  "Aunque  el  Rey  conocia  bieu,  que  esto  era  dilacion,  para  que  entretanto 

tuviessen  tiempo  los  Portugueses  de  entrarse  en  las  Islas y  sabia  que  el 

Rey  de  Portugal  embiava  ordenes  y  gente  par  ello,  aviendo  passado  muchas 
embaxadas,  replicas  de  una  parte  a  otra  .  .  porque  la  voluntad  del  Emperador 
era  de  conservar  con  el  Rey  de  Portugal  su  deudo  y  amistad..etc."  ib.  cap.  5-6. 

t  "El  Emperador.... mando  yr  a  essa  Junta  a  otros  Cosmogrofos,  y  Pilotos, 
maestros  de  hazer  cartas  de  navegar  .    .    .   para  la  declaracion  del  sitio  de  las 

islas que  eran  Sebastian  Gaboto  &c.  .  .  ."  Id.  ib.  cap.  6.— Cabot  gave 

his  opinion  in  writing,  jointly  with  Friars  Thomas  Duran  and  John  Vespucci, 
Americo's  nephew. —See  Navarrete  iv,  no.  xxxv,  p.  339.  ed.  1837. 

%  Navarrete,  ib.  No.  xxxvii,  p.  343. -The  first  signature  to  the  Declaration  was 
that  of  Fernando  Columbus,  son  of  Christopher  Columbus.  See  also  Herrera, 
Dec.  iii,  lib.  vi,  cap.  viii. 

§  Herrera,  Dec.  iii,  lib.  vii.  — Oviedo,  Part  ii,  lib.  20,  cap.  4. 


152  THE  LIFE  OP  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

Indian  Ocean,  a  company  was  formed  and  organized  among 
the  merchants  of  Seville  for  a  commercial  expedition  to  the 
same  places,  with  all  the  more  hope  and  confidence  of  great 
profits  because  Cabot,  whose  authority  as  Pilot-Major  was  nat- 
urally regarded  as  of  the  greatest  weight  in  such  matters,  had 
expressed  the  opinion  that  other  islands  besides  those  dis- 
covered were  scattered  over  those  seas,  and  not  less  deserv- 
ing of  exploration  than  the  Moluccas.*  Some  English  mer- 
chants were  associated  with  the  Spanish,  among  others 
Robert  Thorne,  whose  memorial  to  Henry  VIII,  urging  the 
search  for  a  northern  passage  to  Asia,  has  been  spoken  of  in 
our  Tenth  Chapter. f 

To  assure  the  success  of  this  expedition,  the  merchants' 
company  thought  of  giving  the  command  of  it  to  the  Pilot- 
Major  himself.  £  The  supreme  council  of  the  Indies  approved 
ot  their  wish,  and  in  September  gave  Cabot  permission  to 
take  charge  of  the  expedition. §  Well  pleased  with  the  duty, 
he  at  once  set  about  making  his  preparations.  But  however 
honorable  the  office  of  directing  a  company  of  merchants,  it 
was  but  ill  suited  to  his  genius  as  a  discoverer  :  he  felt  himself 
invited  to  storms  in  new  seas,  the  anxiety  of  dangers  unseen 
by  others,  and  the  delight  and  glory  of  pointing  out  to  the 
world  the  discovery  of  new  lands  and  peoples.  He  had  there- 
fore hardly  accepted  the  new  charge  before  he  devoted 
his  whole  energy  to  drawing  the  government  into  the  enter- 
prise, and  from  a  mercantile  one,  as  it  was,  to  give  it  an  en- 
tirely different  direction,  throwing  the  whole  weight  of  it  on 
the  royal  treasury,  and  leaving  the  merchants  only  the  bur- 
den of  providing  the  necessary  funds  for  trading. 

To  this  end,  towards  the  middle  of  September,  he  proceeded 

*  Herrera,    Dec.iii,  lib.  iv,  cap.  20.  f  Hakluyt,  vol.  i,  p.  215. 

^"Las  muestras  que  la  nao  Victoria  traxo  de  las  especias,  y  otras  cosas  de  los 
Molucos,  dio  animo  a  muchos  bombres  de  Sevilla,  para  solicitar  a  Sebastian 
Gaboto,  Piloto  mayor  del  Rey  a  ofrecer  de  hazer  a  quel  viage,  prometiendo  de 
armarle  para  el." — Herrera,  Dec.  iii,  lib.  x,  cap.  i. 

§"Speramus  fore  ut  Sebastianus  Cabot  us  Baccalorum  repertor,  cui  circiter 
Kal.  Septembris  supplicanti,  ex  nostri  senatus  auctoritate  permissa  est  naviga- 
tions perquirendae  potestas,  breviore  tempore  ac  felicioribus  avibus  sit  red- 
iturus,  quam  Victoria  navis."  P.  Martire  d'Anghiera,  Dec.  vii,  cap.  6.  , 


THE  MOLUCCAS  EXPEDITION.  153 

to  court,  and  setting  forth  the  great  advantages  of  the  coop- 
eration of  the  merchants  of  Seville,  he  asked  the  government 
for  four  ships  furnished  and  equipped  with  every  thing 
needed.*  The  government  approved  of  Cabot's  views,  and  on 
March  4,  1525,  the  conditions  of  its  concurrence  in  the  expedi- 
tion were  agreed  on.  After  fixing  the  proportion  of  the  ex- 
penses and  profits  of  the  government  and  of  the  merchants' 
company,  it  was  settled  that  Cabot  should  have  with  him  not 
less  than  three  ships,  with  authority  to  increase  the  number 
to  six,  of  the  burden  and  crews  fixed  upon,  and  he  should  sail 
by  Magellan's  Strait  to  the  Moluccas  and  other  islands  in 
those  regions.  From  there  he  was  to  go  in  search  of  the  isl- 
ands of  Tarshish  and  Ophir,  of  Eastern  Cathay,  and  of 
Cipango,  loading  at  each  of  these  places  and  others  that  he 
should  discover  along  his  passage,  all  the  gold,  silver,  precious 
stones,  pearls,  and  the  like,  that  he  could  find,  f  On  his  re- 
turn he  was  to  sail  close  along  the  whole  southern  coast  of  the 
new  continent  of  America.^  It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that 
Cathay  corresponds  to  the  northern  part  of  the  modern  empire 
of  China,  Ophir  and  Tarshish  are  places  mentioned  in  the 
Bible  ;  from  the  former  Solomon  with  his  fleet  brought  great 
quantities  of  gold  ;§  and  the  latter  is  named  in  one  of  the 


*  "Quatuor  navium  classiculara,  omnibus  ad  rem  maritimam  facientibus  et 
commodis  tormentorum  vasis  paratara,  ab  Caesareo  aerario  Cabotus  poposcit, 
socios  ait  se  reperisse  Hispali,  quae  Sebilla  dicitur,  commerciorum  omnium  In- 
dicorum  emporio,  qui  sub  spe  magui  lucri,  ad  classicule  commeatumet  caetera 
necessaria,  ducatorum  decern  millium  sua  sponte  summam  obtulerint.  Ad 
offerendam  partecipum  sociorum  obligationem  circiter  idus  septembris  a  nobis 
dimissus  est  Cabotus."  Id.  ib. 

f  "...  .a  quatro  de  Marco  del  ano  passado  de  mil  quinientos  y  veynte  cinco, 
capitulo  con  el  Rey  en  Madrid,  que  yria  con  ties  navios  o  mas,  hasta  seys,  por 

el  estrecho  de  Magallanes en  demanda  de  las  islas  de  Molucos,  y  de  las 

demas  que  avian  sido  descubiertas .  .  .  .  y  ansi  mismo  en  busca  de  las  otras 
islas  y  tierras  de  Tarsis,  Ofir,  y  el  Catajo  Oriental,  y  Cipango para car- 
gar  los  navios  del  oro,  plata,  y  piedras  preciosas,  perlas  etc  ...  .  que  hallasse, 
assi  en  aquellas  islas,  como  en  otras  tierras,  que  en  el  viage  descubriesse.  .  .  ." 
Herrera,  Dec.  iii,  lib.  x,  cap.  i.  E.  App.  N.  xxxix. 

t  "His  perlustratis  et  prudenti  diligentia  pertractatis,  nostri  putati  contin- 
entis  latus  australe  universum  abradent."  Pietro  Martire  d'Angbiera,  Dec.  vii, 
cap.  6. 

§  "Classim  quoque   fecit  rex  Salomon misitque  ....  in   classe  ilia 


154  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

Psalms  as  a  very  rich  place,  from  which  men  were  to  come  with 
gifts  to  the  Messiah.* 

It  was  long  disputed  among  interpreters  of  the  Bible  where 
these  two  places  were  situated  and  to  what  modern  lands 
they  correspond,  and  the  most  divergent  opinions  were  put 
forward.  It  is  enough  for  our  purpose  that  both  were  gen- 
erally placed  in  the  east,  and  as  imagination  had  greatly 
worked  up  the  wealth  of  those  places,  the  desire  to  reach 
them  was  one  of  the  most  cherished  dreams  of  navigators 
and  discoverers.  There  was  still  greater  desire  to  reach  the 
island  of  Cipango,  "abounding  with  gold,  pearls,  and  gems," 
as  Paul  Toscanelli,  the  physician,  wrote  to  Canon  Fernando 
Martinez  of  Lisbon,  "and  the  temples  and  royal  dwellings 
are  roofed  with  plates  of  gold."+  Marco  Polo  had  said  that 
this  island  was  to  be  found  fifteen  hundred  miles  from  Cathay. 
Columbus  was  enraptured  with  delight  when  he  thought  he 
had  arrived  there. 

The  departure  of  the  expedition  was  set  for  August  of 
that  year  1525  ;  J  but  a  serious  controversy  between  Sebastian 
Cabot  anoV  the  merchants'  company  prevented  it.  He  wanted 
for  his  lieutenant  on  the  expedition  Michael  de  Runs,  the 
others  wanted  him  to  take  Martin  Mendez.§  Cabot  supported 
his  selection  by  the  fact  that  Rufis  had  added  a  caravel  to 
the  expedition  at  his  own  expense,  which  seemed  to  give  him 
a  claim  on  the  second  position.  But  the  others  set  up  the  ex- 
perience of  Mendez,  who  had  been  commissary  of  subsistence 

servos  suos  viros  nauticos  et  gnaros  maris  ....  Qui  cum  venissent  in  Ophir 
sumptum  inde  aurum  420  talentorum  detulerunt  ad  regem  Salomonem.  "Reg. 
iii,  ix,  26-28  :  et  16.  x.  2 .  .  .  "Classis  ....  quae  portabat  aurum  de  Ophir, 
attulit  ex  Ophir  ligua  thyina  multa  nimis  et  gemmas  pretiosas.  .  .  .  Nont  sunt 
allata  hujuscemodi  ligna  thyina,  neque  visa  usque  in  praesentem  diem." 

*  "Reges  Tharsis  et  insula?  munera  offerent,  reges  Arabum  et  Saba  dona 
adducent."  Ps.  lxxi,   10. 

t  Fernando  Colombo,  Historie,  cap.  8— See  Tarducci,  Life  of  Columbus,  i, 
p,58. 

X  "Est  Cabotus  Augusto  mense  proximi  MDXXV  discessurus,"  Peter 
Martyr  d'Anghiera,  1.  c. 

§  "Los  Diputados  de  los  armidores,  por  diferencias  que  con  el  general 
avian  tenido,  quisieron  que  fuesse  Martin  Mendez,  y  no  Miguel  de  Rufis 
aquien  pretendia  llevar  en  este  cargo  Sebastian  Gaboto."  Herrera.  1.  c. 


DISPUTE  WITH  THE  MERCHANTS.  155 

on  Magellan's  expedition,  and  was  one  of  the  honored  sur- 
vivors that  returned  with  the  Victoria.  This  was  the  ap- 
parent cause  of  the  dispute,  but  the  real  cause  must  be  looked 
for  in  the  wrath  of  the  merchants  at  the  new  direction  given 
to  their  undertaking.  We  have  no  light  by  which  to  see  in- 
to the  proceedings  ;  but  from  the  nature  of  the  facts  them- 
selves it  seems  to  me  possible  to  draw  the  conviction  that  the 
merchants  could  not  have  felt  satisfied  that  the  expedition 
should  exceed  the  modest  limits  of  a  commercial  enterprise, 
within  which  it  was  first  conceived,  and  should  take  on  the 
character  and  scope  of  a  regular  exploration  and  discovery. 
And  I  am  of  opinion  that  they  found  themselves  bound  to 
the  government  either  by  surprise  or  want  of  courage  and 
strength  to  resist.  And  in  truth  they  had  looked  for  sure 
gain  from  the  Molucca  Islands,  already  discovered  and  visited; 
but  Cabot  was  dragging  them  on  a  new  uncertain  expedition, 
all  the  more  dangerous  for  the  vastness  of  the  field  he  pro- 
posed to  cover  ;  they  were  looking  for  gold,  Cabot  for 
glory.  In  such  circumstances  the  choice  of  a  lieutenant 
became  a  matter  of  the  highest  importance  to  the  mer- 
chants ;  for,  to  let  Cabot  have  one  who  would  be  his 
tool,  devoted  to  his  will,  was  the  same  as  surrendering 
themselves  bound  hand  and  foot  into  his  power,  and  to  let 
him  guide  and  lead  the  expedition  where  and  how  he 
pleased. 

Cabot  found  it  hard  enough  to  hold  his  side  of  the  ques- 
tion, for  the  fact  that  Mendez  had  already  gone  over  the 
same  course  naturally  pointed  him  out  for  the  position,  and 
the  celebrity  which  clung  to  him  as  one  of  the  few  survivors 
of  that  famous  expedition  drew  attention  to  him  and  made 
his  appointment  acceptable  to  all.  But  he  held  firm,  under- 
standing perfectly  the  merchants'  object,  and  that  to  take  as 
lieutenant  a  creature  of  theirs,  was  like  hanging  a  stick  be- 
tween his  legs  to  impede  his  journey.  The  dispute  became 
bitter,  and  as  neither  side  would  yield  to  the  other,  the  mer- 
chants, feeling  that  in  their  proposal  they  had  the  wall 
against  their  back,  applied  to  the  Emperor.  They  not  only 
applied  to  him  in  order  to  win  their  cause  in  the  question  of 


156  THE  LIFE  OP  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

a  lieutenant,  but,  as  often  happens  in  like  cases  of  deep  and 
lively  exasperation  that  the  eye  sees  every  thing  wrong  where 
all  was  clear  and  fair  before,  the  merchants  loaded  Cabot 
with  so  many  and  so  serious  charges  that  they  demanded  to 
have  the  command  taken  away  from  him  altogether,  and 
Captain  Francis  de  Rojas  put  in  his  place.*  The  sailing  of 
the  expedition  was  delayed  in  consequence. 

It  was  a  case  that  required  a  clean  cut,  free  and  resolute, 
without  timidity  or  uncertainty  ;  the  violent  operation  causes 
severe  pain,  but  at  least  one  of  the  parts  gets  well  again.  To 
take  a  middle  course,  and  for  fear  of  hurting  one  side  or  the 
other  too  much,  try  to  divide  the  evil  in  halves,  and  by  taking 
a  little  from  one  and  a  little  from  the  other,  hope  to  keep 
them  united,  is  to  lose  one's  labor,  and  end  with  the  opposite 
of  what  was  intended,  for  it  leaves  both  in  pain,  and  makes 
the  exasperation  between  them  more  vivid  and  deep. 

Charles  V  unfortunately  followed  this  course.  He  sum- 
moned the  deputies  of  the  company,  and  showed  them  what 
a  scandal  would  follow  the  substitution  of  another  captain  in 
command  of  the  expedition,  and  induced  them  to  be  satisfied 
with  Mendez,  their  choice,  being  appointed  as  its  lieutenant  ; 
and  hoped  to  quiet  Cabot  in  the  humiliation  to  which  he  was 
subjected  by  the  enforced  acceptance  of  Mendez,  by  declaring 
that  the  latter  "  should  only  meddle  with  things  that  Cabot 
put  under  his  charge,  and  only  represent  him  when  absent  or 
unable  to  act,  and  not  interfere  in  any  other  way."f 

*  "Los  Diputados  ....  avian  llevado  al  Rey  un  memorial,  poniendotantos 
defetos  en  la  persona  de  Gaboto,  que  quando  el  armada  no  estuviera  tan  ade- 
lante,  y  tuviera  tanta  voluntad  ques  aliera  con  brevedad,  le  mandara  quedar." 
—  Herrera,  1.  c. 

Item  si  saben  etc.  que  estando  proveydo  el  dicho  Sebastian  gaboto  por  cap- 
ital general  dela  dicha  armada  losarmadores  y  diputados  dellaprocuraron  vista 
la  ynavilidad  y  poco  valor  de  persona  suya  che  su  magestad  le  quitaseel  dicho 
cargo  y  proveyese  del  al  dicho  capitan  Francisco  de  Rojas  N.  3  of  the  Inter- 
rogatories presented  by  Rojas  himself  against  Sebastian  Cabot.  See.  App.  n. 
xxxv. 

f  "El  Rey a  todos  los  compuso,  y  sossego  :  y  poniendolespor  delante 

el  escandalo,  y  inconveniente  que  de  aquella  division  sucederia,  con  que  se  sos- 
segaron  en  parte  ....  Martin  Mendez  ....  fue  provehido  por  Teniente  gen- 
eral, con  que  no  se  occupasse,  sino  en  las  cosas  que  el  General  le  cometiesse,  y 
estendo  ausente,  o  impedido,  no  de  otra  manera."  —  Herrera,  1.  c. 


MENDEZ  DISSATISFIED.  157 

The  sad  effects  of  this  arrangement  were  soon  seen.  The  fleet 
was  at  San  Luear  de  Barrameda,  only  waiting  for  a  fair  wind 
to  set  sail, when  Mendez  suddenly  took  his  things  and  hurried 
to  Seville  to  the  council  of  the  Indies  to  make  his  complaint 
and  hand  in  his  resignation.  Catharine  Vasquez,  his  mother, 
in  her  prosecution  of  Sebastian  Cabot  years  after,  accuses  him 
of  showing  ill-will  towards  her  son,  treating  him  unfairly,  and 
being  his  enemy,  not  being  able  to  endure  which  her  son  left 
and  went  to  give  up  his  office.*  But  her  witnesses  while  con- 
firming Mendez's  sudden  departure  from  the  ship  and  his  go- 
ing to  Seville,  say  nothing  of  any  bad  treatment  or  want  of  con- 
sideration of  him  on  Cabot's  part;  although  it  would  have  been 
plain  to  everybody  and  there  ought  to  have  been  no  difficulty 
in  finding  witnesses.  Only  one  of  the  witnesses  speaks  of  it,  and 
as  a  thing  he  had  heard  from  Captain  Francis  de  Rojas,  that  is 
to  say,  from  a  worse  enemy  of  Cabot's  than  Mendez  himself.  On 
the  other  hand  it  is  not  at  all  likely  that  Cabot  would  have 
been  imprudent  enough  openly  to  disregard  the  Emperor's 
orders  just  received,  and  right  before  his  eyes,  for  Charles  V 
was  then  at  Seville,  f  The  charge  of  Vasquez  should  then  be 
taken  with  discretion,  namely,  that  Cabot  in  his  state  of  irri- 
tation against  Mendez,  did  not  hold  him  in  that  consideration 
which  was  due  to  the  office  of  lieutenant,  and  Mendez,  irritated 
in  turn  against  Cabot,  gave  undue  weight  to  this  neglect,  or  else 
arguing  from  this  commencement  what  might  be  expected  later 
on,  determined  to  provide  for  it  at  once  and  protect  himself. 
The  Bishop  of  Osma,  President  of  the  council  of  the  Indies, 
quieted  Mendez  with  fair  words,  and  promising  that  things 
should  change,  sent  him  back  to  the  fleet.;);  He  then  sum- 
moned Cabot  before  him,  and  also  Rifos,  whom  Cabot  employed 


*"....el  dicho  martin  Mendez... .viendo  la  mala  voluntad  emal  tratamiento  e 
obros  de  enemistad  que  le  hazia  el  dicho  Sebastian  caboto  y  ia  poca  cuentas 
que  hazia  del.  se  determino  del  bolver....e  viuoaquexare  quexo  a  los  senores 

presidente  e  oydores  del  Consejo  Real  de  las  yndias "  Sesta  Prer/unta  de  la 

Provanga  de  Catalina  Vasquez,  madre  de  Martiu  Mendez. — A.pp.  xxxiv. 

\  lb.  Id.  ix  witness. 

%  lb.  viii  Pregunta.— Osma  is  a  city  of  Old  Castile  in  Spain,  on  an  affluent  of 
the  Douro. 


158  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

in  all  matters  that  should  have  fallen  to  Mendez,  and  according 
to  Vasquez's  charge,  severely  reprimanded  and  threatened 
them,  and  his  threats  were  specially  severe  upon  Bifos  if  he 
should  interfere  with  the  duties  belonging  to  Mendez.*  These 
last  words  are  sufficient  of  themselves  to  show  how  exagger- 
ated is  the  charge  made  by  Vasquez;  for  to  threaten  Bifos  if  he  - 
interfered  with  the  duties  belonging  to  the  lieutenant,  was  the 
same  thing  as  to  threaten  him  if  he  obeyed  the  orders  of  the  su- 
preme commander  of  the  fleet,  since  it  is  natural  that  he  should 
interfere  when  and  where  his  superior  commanded  ;  and  be- 
sides, the  Emperor  having  ordered  that  Mendez  should  only 
meddle  with  such  matters  as  the  General  gave  him  in  charge,  it 
follows  naturally  that  the  General  was  free  to  give  his  com- 
missions to  others.  It  is  also  to  be  observed  here  that  the  wit- 
nesses refer  to  what  they  had  heard  say  by  John  de  Junco, 
who  was  Cabot's  declared  enemy,  f 

I  see  plainly  that  more  than  one  reader  will  deem  it  super- 
fluous to  go  into  all  these  petty  details,  but  the  dearth  of 
documents  obliges  us  to  make  the  most  of  every  thing  to  get 
at  the  condition  of  things  and  minds  at  the  time  Cabot's  ex- 
pedition was  preparing.  For  this  purpose  we  must  even  al- 
lude to  another  serious  charge  in  the  proofs  of  Catharine  Vas- 
quez, although  not  the  slightest  support  was  given  it  by  any 
witness.  She  says  that  Catharine  de  Medrano,  Cabot's  wife, 
who  according  to  the  charge  possessed  great  influence  over 
her  husband,  after  vainly  trying  to  prevent  Mendez's 
appointment,  conceived  a  bitter  hatred  for  him,  and 
employed  a  person  to  assassinate  him.J 

But  much  more  serious  for  the  fate  of  the  expedition  is 
what  Cabot  himself  puts  in  the  third  interrogatory  of  his  an- 
swer. He  says  that  Mendez,  Rojas,  and  the  other  principal 
officers  of  the  fleet,  before  sailing,  held  a  secret  meeting  to- 


*  lb.  vii  Pregunta. 

fPregunta  xxx  and  following, of  Sebastian  Cabot's  proofs  in  reply  to  the  accu- 
sation of  Vasquez.  For  this  hostility  of  John  de  Junco  towards  Cabot  as  also 
for  that  of  Francis  de  Rojas  previously  mentioned,  the  reader  must  be  satisfied  to 
take  my  word,  and  wait  for  the  proof  in  the  proper  place. 

X  lb.  Pregunta  v. 


THE  officers'  consfiracy.  159 

gether  in  Seville  in  St.  Paul's  church,  and  there  bound  them- 
selves by  an  oath  to  unite  on  every  occasion  against  Sebastian 
Cabot  for  the  purpose  of  depriving  him  of  the  command  of 
the  expedition,  and  putting  Rojas  in  his  place.  * 

Of  the  witnesses  called  by  him  to  sustain  this  serious  charge, 
one  says  that  he  had  heard  this  secret  meeting  and  the  oath 
taken  by  those  officers  spoken  of  in  Seville  even  before  they 
sailed,  and  gives  the  name  of  the  officer  who  told  him  of  it, 
but  he  was  not  informed  of  the  object  of  the  meeting  or  of  the 
oath,  f  The  others  all  unite  in  testifying  that  the  affair  was 
publicly  talked  of  in  the  fleet,  and  it  was  said  further  that  the 
oath  not  only  contemplated  the  removal  of  Sebastian  Cabot 
and  the  substitution  of  Captain  Rojas  in  his  place,  but  also  his 
murder.  J 

It  seems  hard  to  think  that  any  thing  so  serious  could  be  be- 
lieved and  publicly  rumored  without  some  basis  of  truth.  It 
may  very  likely  have  been  exaggerated  in  the  men's  talk,  and 
reached  Cabot's  ears  in  that  shape,  but  there  must  have  been 
something  to  it.  If  there  was  a  meeting,  and  some  compact 
between  the  officers,  it  surely  was  not  in  Cabot's  favor  :  this 
is  certain  from  what  followed.  But  suppose  it  was  a  false  re- 
port, a  calumny  ;  its  spread  amongst  the  men  of  the  expedi- 
tion was  enough  of  itself  to  inoculate  the  whole  with  a  poi- 
son fatal  to  all  discipline  and  good  order. 

*"Yten  di  saben  questandoen  la  cibdad  de  sevilla  martin  mendez  e  francisco 
de  Rojas  e  otros  muchos  que  yvan  devaxo  de  la  capitania  del  dicho  Se- 
bastian caboto  se  juntaron  en  el  monesterio  de  san  pablo  deladicha  cibdad  e  ay 
se  conjuraron  de  ser  en  todo  lo  que  se  ofresciere  contra  el  dicho  Sebastian 
caboto  e  que  querian  alcar  al  dicho  Francisco  de  Rojas,  per  capitan  general." 
— Tercera  pregunta. 

t  " estando  en  la  cibdad  de  sevilla  antes  que  fuesen  a  sanlucar  de  bar- 

ramedacon  las  dichas  naos  oyo  dezir  al  contador  Valdez  que  se  juntaron  el 
dicho  capitan  Rojas  e  los  otros  capitanes  y  oficiales  que  yv;in  en  la  dicha 
armada  e  que  avian  fecho  im  juramento  en  san  pablo  o  en  san  francisco  de 
sebilla  pero  que  no  le  dixo  para  que  ni  para  que  no  ....  "  ix  testigo. 

X  For  the  sake  of  brevity  I  give  only  a  few  words  of  the  tenth  witness  "... 
yendo  esto  dicho  testigo  en  la  dicha  armada  oyo  decir  publicamente  a  la  gente 
de  la  dicha  armada  ....  que  avian  fecho  Francisco  de  Rojas  e  martin  men- 
dez.... concilio  contro  el  dicho  Sebastian  caboto  para  le  matar  e  alcar  por  capi- 
tan general  al  dicho  francisco  de  Rojas." 

The  witness  was  a  sailor  of  the  expedition. 


160  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

This  wickedness  no  doubt  originated  in  the  animosity  of  the 
merchants  towards  Sebastian  Cabot  ;  but  it  appears  from  the 
very  commencement  so  extensive  and  so  deep  that  it  cannot  be 
explained  by  that  alone.  They  wanted,  it  is  true,  and  endeav- 
ored his  ruin,  but  here  are  evident  symptoms  of  the  ruin  and 
death  of  the  whole  expedition.  This  the  merchants  could  not 
have  intended,  for  it  was  a  blow  at  themselves  and  their  own 
interests.  We  must  then  look  elsewhere.  To  understand  the 
matter  well,  we  must  remember  Portugal's  alarm,  when  she 
learned  of  Magellan's  expedition  preparing,  the  efforts  made  to 
hinder  its  fitting  out,  to  stop  its  progress,  to  destroy  it  when  it 
reached  its  goal.  Then  the  cry  of  grief  at  the  return  of  the  Vic- 
toria, the  protests,  complaints,  prayers  of  the  Portuguese  King 
that  Spain  would  not  invade  the  rights  of  his  crown:  in  fine,  his 
subterfuges  and  craft  to  delay  the  conference  and  not  come  to 
any  decision.  When  afterwards,  on  the  declaration  of  the 
Spanish  Delegates,  Spain  insisted  on  the  recognition  of  her 
rights  and  ordered  the  preparations  for  Loaysa's  departure  to 
go  on,  the  King  of  Portugal  cried  out  and  blustered,  and  there 
was  even  talk  of  war.*  Arms  were  not  taken  up,  but  Portuguese 
diplomacy  recommenced  an  active  campaign  against  the 
Spanish  possession  of  the  Moluccas,  until  at  last  it  succeeded, 
and  by  the  treaty  of  1529  brought  those  islands  under  the  do- 
minion of  its  own  crown,  f 

If,  then,  Portugal  continued  so  urgently  her  complaints 
and  negotiations,  and  never  ceased  till  she  had  gained  her 
point,  can  we  suppose  that  during  the  preparation  of  Cabot's 
expedition  she  only  gave  vent  to  complaints,  and  not  rather 
used  every  means,  tried  every  way,  made  every  attempt  to 


*Peter  Martyr  d'  Anghiera,  Dec.  vi,  cap.  x. 

f'El  Rev  de  Portugal. ...no  teniendo  por  definido  elnegocio  dela  particion.. 
.siempre  se  guexava  y  dezia,  que  era  agraviado....pero  viendo  que  el  Empe- 
rador  continuava  en  armar,  estando  muy  firme  que  aquellas  islas  caian  en  su 
demarcacion,  y  que  las  queria  gnzar  bolvio  allevar  el  negocio  por  otro  camino, 
aprovechandose  de  la  necessidad  en  que  vio  que  estava  el  Emperador  de  dineros 
.  .en  Zaragoca  a  veynte  y  dos  de  Abril  deste  afio  (1529)los  mesmos  Comissarios 
celebraron  carta  de  venta.  .  .  .  con  pacto  de  retrovendendo  perpetuo,  por 
.precio  de  trezientos  y  cincuenta  mil  ducados.,.."  Herrera,  Dec.  iv,  lib.  v,  cap. 
10— Navarrete,  iv,  Doc.  xli,  p.  389 


THE  EXPEDITION   OF  1526.  161 

render  it  abortive  ?  For  we  must  consider  that  if  Cabot's  en- 
terprise succeeded,  and  Spain  learned  the  advantage  of  pos- 
sessing the  Moluccas,  Portugal  could  never  hope  to  rid  her- 
self of  this  dangerous  neighbor  in  the  seas  of  India.  On  the 
other  hand,  she  could  always  hope  for  a  good  result  if  she 
could  draw  matters  out  to  a  great  length,  and  weary  Spain 
and  the  Emperor  with  expense  and  procrastination.  It  is  there- 
fore morally  certain  that  Portugal,  unequal  to  open  warfare, 
fought  underhand  in  every  possible  way  the  expedition  of 
Cabot,  and  the  most  obvious  and  natural  means  was  to  blow 
on  the  merchants'  anger,  increase  the  distrust  and  disesteem 
among  the  officers,  sow  in  all  the  seeds  of  envy  and  dislike, 
and  so  secure  the  failure  of  the  expedition. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Sailing  of  the  expedition. 

At  last,  all  difficulties  vanquished,  the  fleet  left  San  Lucar 
de  Barrameda  on  the  3rd  of  April,  1526,  and  put  to  sea.* 

The  season,  it  is  true,  was  not  far  enough  advanced  to  be 
favorable  for  the  voyage  they  were  to  make  ;  but  one  of  the 
seamen  left  in  the  Moluccas  by  Magellan's  expedition  hav- 
mg  by  great  good  fortune  succeeded  in  gaining  the  shores  of 
Europe,  returned  to  Spain  with  the  news  of  the  cruelties 
practised  by  the  Portuguese  on  the  wretched  survivors  of 
that  expedition  and  of  their  capture  of  the  Trinidad.  This 
news  caused  the  order  to  sail  to  be  given  at  once,  in  order  to 


*  "Despues  de  muchas  dificultades,  partio  Sebastian  Gaboto  a  los  primeros 
de  Abril,  de  este  ano,  1526."  Herrera,  Dec.  iii,  lib.  ix.,  cap.  3. 

The  exact  date  of  sailing  is  given  in  the  narrative  of  Lewis  Ramirez— 
"Salieron  de  la  bahia  deSan  Lucar  a  3  de  Abril."  See  App.  xxxvii. 


162  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

carry  provisions  and  reinforcements  to  those  remaining  on 
the  islands.* 

Sebastian  Cabot  commanded  the  flagship,  with  Francis  de 
Concha  in  charge  of  accounts  and  Fernando  Calderon  as 
Treasurer.  The  Santa  Maria  del  Espinar  was  commanded 
by  Gregory  Caro,  who  had  with  him  Michael  Baldes  as  chief 
of  accounts  and  John  de  Junco  as  Treasurer.  The  third  ship 
was  called  the  Trinity,  and  commanded  by  Francis  de  Kojas 
with  Anthony  Montoya  chief  of  accounts  and  Gonzalo  Nunez 
de  Balboa  for  Treasurer.  Michael  de  Runs  commanded  his 
own  caravel.  Caspar  de  Ribas  was  chief  constable  of  the  fleet. 
Many  noble  youths  and  persons  of  quality  took  part  in  the 
expedition  as  volunteers.  Amongst  these  Herrera  places 
Michael  de  Rodas,  whose  name  in  the  course  of  our  story 
will  acquire  a  sad  importance,  and  of  whom  the  Spanish  his- 
torian says  that  he  was  very  experienced  in  matters  pertain- 
ing to  the  sea,  and  a  man  of  worth,  and  that  he  went  on 
board  by  the  King's  order  but  without  any  office,  f  But  in 
the  suit  between  Sebastian  Cabot  and  Catharine  Vasquez  he 
is  repeatedly  mentioned,  and  generally  as  pilot  of  the  flag- 
ship, from  which  we  must  presume  that  Herrera  was  mistaken, 
or  else  that  he  assumed  the  duties  of  pilot  during  the  voy- 
age.:); In  another  place  further  on  Herrera  calls  him  a  brother 
of  Francis  de  Rojas  captain  of  the  Trinidad  ;  and  as  the  two 
surnames  are  always  distinct  and  different  not  only  in  Her- 
rera, but  throughout  the  suit  that  was  afterwards  brought 
against  Sebastian  Cabot  by  the  mother  of  Martin  Mendez,  we 
must  conclude  that  if  they  wrere  brothers  they  were  only  so  on 


*"y  porque  en  esta  ocasion  llego  un  marinero,  de  los  que  avian  estado  en  los 
Moluchos,  y  riferio  el  maltratamiento  que  avian  kecho  los  Portugueses  a  los 
Castellanos,  y  los  pocos  que  avian  quedado,  y  como  avian  tornado  la  nave 
Trinidad,  se  solicito  con  mas  cuydado  la  partida  de  Sebastian  Gaboto,  por  que 
los  f uesse  a  soccorrer — "Herrera,  I.  c. 

f'Fueron  tambien  en  ella  muchos  bijosDalgo,  y  personas  principales  volun- 
tariamente  .  .  .  .  y  Miguel  de  Rodas,  queaunque  muy  platico  a  las  cosas  de  la 
mar,  y  bombre  de  valor  ;  no  ilevava  oficio,  porque  yva  por  orden  del  Rev  — " 
Herrera,  ib. 

\"  Yten  si  saben  quel  dicbo  Sebastian  caboto  enbio  a  miguel  de  Rodas  piloto 
de  la  nao  capitana.  ..."  Pregunta  vi  ;  and  twice  again  in  the  vii  and  viii. 


GOMARA  AND  HERRERA.  163 

the  mother's  side,  not  on  the  father's.*  The  whole  number 
of  persons  was  two  hundred,  f 

On  sailing  each  commander  of  a  ship  received  a  sealed 
packet  containing  orders  for  succeeding  to  the  command 
of  the  fleet  in  case  of  Cabot's  death.  When  they  were  to  be 
opened  we  know  not,  but  from  the  nature  of  the  orders  we 
should  suppose  as  soon  as  they  were  at  sea. 

Francis  de  Rojas  was  named  first,  then  came  Michael 
de  Rodas,  and  Michael  Mendez  third,;):  then  followed  other 
names.  "It  is  difficult,"  Biddle  justly  remarks,  "to  imagine 
a  scheme  better  fitted  to  nurse  disaffection. "§  Cabot's  death  or 
his  retirement  for  whatever  cause,  from  command  of  the  fleet, 
must  ever  stand  as  an  attractive  prospect  before  the  fancy  of 
the  privileged  persons  whose  names  were  inscribed  on  that 
list.  There  were  three  government  ships,  and  it  is  natural  that 
in  case  of  the  death  or  disability  of  the  commander  of  the  flag- 
ship one  of  the  other  two  captains  should  succeed  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  fleet.  Indeed  the  secret  orders  assign  the  com- 
mander of  the  Trinidad,  Francis  de  Rojas,  to  the  succes- 
sion. But  if  he  failed,  it  was  not  the  commander  of  the  Santa 
Maria  who  was  to  take  the  place  ;  he  came  eleventh  on  the  list, 
after  the  chief  constable,  after  all  the  treasurers,  the  chiefs  of 
accounts  of  the  ships,  even  those  of  his  own  ship,  Santa 
Maria  del  Espinar,  who  passed  over  the  Captain's  head.  Was 
it  accident,  mistake,  or  was  it  intended  ?  Let  us  hasten  to  say 
that  Captain  Gregory  Caro  put  at  the  bottom  of  the  list,  at 
the  tail  of  his  own  subalterns,  steadfastly  maintained  his 
loyalty  to  Sebastian  Cabot  ;  how  he  was  treated  by  the  privi- 
leged officers  who  were  to  succeed  first  to  his  office,  we  shall 
soon  see. 

And  now  before  commencing  the  sad  story  of  the  events 


One  witness  to  the  vi  Pregunta  of  the  Probanca  of  Vasquez;  *'oyo  decir  .  . 
que   miguel  de  Rodas  piloto  mayor  de  la  dicha  armada  ....  etc " 

*  "Los  dos  hermanos  Roxas  y  Martin  Mendez."  Herrera,  Dec.  18,  lib.  ix,  cap.  3. 

t  This  number  is  given  in  a  letter  of  Dr.  Affonso  Simao,  the  King  of  Port- 
ugal's agent  in  Spain.     We  shall  give  the  letter  in  full  further  on. 

X  Herrera,  ib. 

§  Biddle,  bk.  i,  ch.  xviii,  p.  133,  -^ .  -  - 


164  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

which  follow,  I  must  inform  the  reader  beforehand,  that  we  are 
in  a  most  unfavorable  position  for  understanding  and  judging 
Sebastian  Cabot's  conduct. *  His  friend  Peter  Martyr  D' 
Anghiera  was  dead  ;  and  the  only  two  historians  left  who 
speak  of  Cabot,  are  Gomara  and  Herrera.  Gomara  published 
his  work  in  1552  at  a  time  when  as  we  shall  see  further  on,  all 
Spain  was  loading  Cabot's  name  with  reproaches  and  male- 
dictions ;  and  he  dedicated  his  history  to  Charles  V  who  just 
at  that  time  was  at  the  height  of  his  anger  at  Cabot.  Herrera 
lived  later,  but  was  still  too  close  to  that  period  to  be  able  to 
strip  himself  wholly  of  that  animosity  not  altogether  blamable, 
which  his  compatriots  had  towards  Cabot,  and  the  information 
he  furnishes  us  is  taken  in  great  part  from  the  writings  and 
memoirs  of  Sebastian's  enemies.  Add  to  all  this  that  it  is 
very  little  they  tell  us  about  him,  and  that  little  is  generally 
so  vague  that  it  is  difficult  to  gather  its  precise  meaning  and 
bearing.  Take  for  example  the  way  in  which  Herrera  relates 
the  events  of  the  expedition  from  the  day  when  it  sailed  from 
the  shores  of  Spain  till  its  arrival  at  the  isle  of  Patos  on  the 
coasts  of  Brazil :  "Sebastian  Cabot  wras  sailing  to  the  Canaries, 
and  the  Cape  Verde  Islands,  and  then  to  Cape  St.  Augustine 
and  the  island  of  Patos,  and  near  the  Bay  of  All  Saints 
he  ran  against  a  French  ship  and  according  to  the  opinion  of 
the  most  practised  seamen  he  did  not  conduct  himself  On 
that  voyage  as  a  sailor  of  experience,  nor  even  as  a  good 
captain,  for  he  ran  short  of  provisions  from  badly  distributing 
them  ;  and  as  some  minds  remained  dissatisfied  about  the 
Seville  quarrels,  and  he  took  small  pains  to  pacify  them, 
there  arose  murmurs,  and  insolences  in  the  fleet  on  account  of 
the  navigation  and  command  ;  and  so  he  arrived  at  the  island 
of  Patos  greatly  pinched  with  hunger."f 


*  "  while  there  exist  so  many  causes  for  misunderstanding  Cabot's  conduct, 
and  motives  for  misrepresenting  it,  the  writer,  unfortunately,  whose  state- 
ments have  since  been  adopted,  almost  without  question,  prepared  his  history 
under  circumstances  little  inclining  him  to  impartiality."  Biddle,  Memoir. 

\  "  fue  navegando  a  las  Canarias,  y  a  las  Islas  de  Cabo  Verde  :  y  despues  al 
Caho  de  San  Agustin,  y  a  la  isla  de  Patos  :  y  cerca  de  la  Bahia  de  Todos 
Santos,  se  topo  con  una  nave  francesa,  y  segun  la  opinion  de  los  mas  platicos 
hombres  de  mar,  non  se  guverno  en  esta  navegacioa,  como  marinero  de  espe- 


OTHER  DOCUMENTS.  105 

Biddle  calls  attention  to  the  vagueness  of  this  account  which 
he  observes  is  characteristic  of  falsehood.  *  It  is  indeed 
strange  that  an  historian  over-abounding  in  details  like  Her- 
rera.  should  be  so  sparing  in  his  account  of  a  matter  of  so 
much  importance,  and  c&ndense  in  a  single  period  so  many 
different  matters,  leaving  the  reader  wholly  at  a  loss  to  find 
any  thing  out,  or  see  clearly  what  occurred.  Here  we  com- 
plain of  his  vagueness  ;  we  shall  have  more  than  one  occasion 
to  find  fault  with  his  open  partiality  in  narrating  and  in  judg- 
ing facts,  not  to  say  his  falsehood  and  injustice. 

This  injury  can  be  partially  repaired  by  the  testimony  of 
contemporary  documents  which  we  have  succeeded  in  obtain- 
ing. But  these  are  unfortunately  of  little  use,  and  although 
enough  to  put  in  a  good  view  the  figure  of  Cabot,  which 
confined  to  the  shade  left  us  full  of  doubt  and  suspicion,  they 
are  not  sufficient  for  a  full  and  calm  judgment  either  of  events 
or  of  the  persons  who  took  part  in  them. 

These  documents  are  1.  The  heads  of  accusations  presented 
against  Cabot  by  Catharine  Vasquez,  mother  of  Lieutenant 
Martin  Mendez,  then  deceased  ;  2.  Those  presented  by  Francis 
de  Rojas  captain  of  the  ship  Trinidad  ;  3.  Sebastian  Cabot's 
answer  or  defense  ;  4.  The  Depositions  of  the  witnesses  sum- 
moned by  both  sides  on  the  trial  ;  5.  The  letter  sent  from  La 
Plata  during  the  same  voyage  by  Lewis  Ramirez  who^took 
part  in  if  ;  6.  The  Requisition  or  Demand  that  Sebastian  Ca- 
bot caused  to  be  made  on  Francis  de  Rojas  through  the  me- 
dium of  Diego  Garcia  ;  7.  The  narrative  of  his  voyage  made  by 
Diego  Garcia  who  met  Sebastian  Cabot  on  the  Plata  :  To 
these  we  shall  add  a  letter  of  Dr.  Affonso  Simao  to  the  King 
of  Portugal,  and  another  letter  from  Cabot  himself  to  John  de 
Samano  secretary  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  f 

riencia,  ni  aim  comobuen  Capitan;  porque  le  faltola  vitualla,  porser  mal  repar- 
tiria  :  y  como  por  las  diferencias  de  Sevilla,  ivan  algunos  animos  mal  satis- 
fechos,  y  el  tuvo  poco  cuydado  en  sossegarlos,  nacieron  murmuraciones  y 
atrevimientos  en  el  armada,  por  causa  de  la  navegacion,  y  del  govierno  ;  y  assi, 
lleiro  a  la  isla  de  Patos,  con  mucha  hambre."  Herrera.  Dec.  iii,  lib.  ix,'  cap.  3. 
*"  The  whole  passage  has  that  air  of  vagueness  so  characteristic  of  false- 
hood."     Biddle,  i,  xix.  p.  137,  note. 

f  Dr.  Simao's  letter  was  published  by  Varnhagen  in  the'Eistoria  Geral  do 


166  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

The  fleet  was  hardly  at  sea  before  Cabot  set  Lieutenant 
Martin  Mendez  altogether  aside,  and  in  every  thing  belonging 
to  his  office  made  use  of  the  services  of  Michael  Rifos  or,  if  he 
was  unavailable,  of  Fernando  Calderon.  This  is  the  ninth 
charge  brought  against  Cabot  by  Mendez's  mother,  and  all  the 
witnesses  confirm  it,  nor  does  he  in  any  way  contradict  it  in 
his  answer.*  We  must  therefore  hold  it  for  true,  and  blame 
Cabot  for  having  looked  out  very  badly  for  his  own  future  and 
for  that  of  the  expedition.  That  he  believed  he  could  put  no 
trust  in  Mendez's  loyalty  is  easily  comprehended;  but  without 
putting  him  altogether  aside,  he  might  have  reserved  the  more 
delicate  matters  for  Rifos,  and  employed  his  lieutenant  in  the 
others.  Humiliating  and  degrading  him  only  added  fresh  fuel 
to  enmities  already  fierce  and  powerful,  and  gave  a  hold  to  his 
enemies  for  increasing  the  murmurs  and  hostility.  He  ought 
not  to  have  forgotten  that  there  was  a  strong  party  in  the  fleet 
leagued  with  Mendez,  and  the  mortal  offense  he  gave  his 
lieutenant  would  produce  a  counterblow  in  the  mind  of  all 
those  that  sided  with  him.  In  this  way  the  expedition,  already 
menaced  in  its  juncture,  received  a  new  shock  sufficient  to  dis- 
solve it  altogether.  Had  Cabot  acted  otherwise,  either  Mendez 
would  have  laid  aside  some  of  his  ill-will  and  calmed  down, 
which  would  have  been  a  great  gain  for  the  success  of  the 
expedition;  or  else  he  would  have  continued  implacable  in  his 
hostility  to  his  Captain,  and  then  the  latter  would  not  have 
wanted  opportunities  to  take  him  at  fault,  and  then  strike  his 

Brazil,  Madrid,  1854,  p.  486— See  App.  xli.—  The  letter  of  Ramirez  was"pub- 
lished  by  tbe  same  Varnhagen  in  the  Bevista  Trimensal,  Rio  Janeiro,  1852. 
T.  xv. 

Unfortunately  I  have  not  been  able  to  procure  this  Review,  and  for  the  let- 
ter of  Ramirez  I  have  been  obliged  to  content  myself  with  a  summary  which 
was  courteously  sent  me  from  Spain.  Luckily  the  summary  is  tolerably  full 
and  embraces  all  the  material  part  of  the  narrative.  See  App.  xxxvii. 

The  excessive  length  of  the  papers  in  suit  has  rendered  it  impossible  for  me 
to  give  them  all  in  the  appendix:  I  shall  however  give  as  exact  and  faithful  a 
summary  of  them  as  it  is  possible  for  me  to  do.  The  same  reason  of  their  length 
though  in  a  less  degree,has  dissuaded  me  from  reproducing  in  full  the  Interroga- 
tories of  Captain  de  Rojas,  the  demand  made  on  him  by  Diego  Garcia, and  the 
narrative  or  Derroterio  [Itinerary]  of  the  same  Garcia.  I  shall  give  the  entire 
summary  of  Ramirez's  letter  just  as  it  was  sent  me  from  Spain. 

*  See.  App.  xxxiv. 


cabot's  want  of  policy.  167 

blow,  and  remove  him  by  an  exercise  of  justice  apparent  to 
all.  By  this  means  the  rigor  of  his  justice  would  have  im- 
proved the  discipline  of  the  crew  and  increased  their  esteem. 
Instead  of  that,  he  lowered  himself  in  the  opinion  of  every 
one,  and  gave  his  enemies  the  appearance  of  being  in  the 
right,  and  by  furnishing  them  an  opportunity  for  spread- 
ing the  discontent  in  the  ships,  made  it  easy  for  them  to  win 
proselytes  to  their  side.  He  did  not  even  gain  any  thing 
in  the  security  of  his  command  by  displacing  Mendez 
so  long  as  the  other  officers,  tainted  with  the  same  pitch  as 
Mendez,  retained  their  respective  commands,  especially  Rojas 
who  was  the  first  of  all  the  officers  after  Cabot. 

The  ships  stopped  at  the  island  of  Pal  ma  in  the  Canaries 
to  take  in  the  necessary  supplies  for  continuing  the  voyage  ;* 
and  here  further  symptoms  and  causes  of  the  latent  dissolution 
of  the  expedition  were  immediately  manifested. 

Cabot  in  his  answer  to  the  charges  in  the  suit  under  the 
fourth  head,  says  that  on  this  island,  those  who  had  met  in  con- 
spiracy in  St.  Paul's  of  Seville,  met  again  for  the  same  purpose 
in  the  house  of  Alonzo  de  Santa  Cruz  who  was  one  of  the  In- 
spectors for  the  merchants'  company.  Of  the  witnesses  pro- 
duced, one  testifies  that  Santa  Cruz  was  lame  in  one  leg,  and  he 
often  saw  the  persons  mentioned  by  Cabot  go  in  and  out  of  his 
house,  but  cannot  say  whether  those  visits  were  on  account  of 
his  sickness  or  not.  It  is  very  possible  that  they  were  visits  of 
friendship  on  account  of  his  illness,  and  yet  their  talk  turn- 
ing, as  was  natural,  on  their  relations  with  Cabot,  whom  they 
hated,  may  not  have  had  for  its  direct  and  sole  purpose  the 
renewal  of  the  bonds  and  oaths  of  their  union.  But  even 
if  they  were  not  real  meetings  for  conspiracy,  they  were  be- 
lieved so  by  all  the  men  in  the  expedition.  On  this  point  the 
witnesses  called  by  Cabot  all  agree  :  they  do  not  know  whether 
those  meetings  were  directed  against  Cabot  or  not,  but  they 
were  publicly  looked  upon  among  the  crews  as  conspiracies 
against  the  commander  of  the  expedition,  and  publicly  spoken 
of  as  such.f 

*Narrative  of  Lewis  Ramirez,  App.  xxxvii. 

t  The  witnesses'  words  are  all  in  this  tone  :"IX  testigo.— Dixo  que  no  sabe 


168  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

Whether  it  was  the  result  of  what  was  agreed  on  at  these 
meetings  or  a  thought  originating  in  Martin  Mendez's  mind, 
the  latter  prepared  a  writing  to  send  to  the  Emperor  notifying 
him  of  the  manner  in  which  Sebastian  Cabot  was  conducting 
the  expedition.  But  Cabot  was  on  the  watch  for  what  his  ene- 
mies did  and  said,  and  by  means  of  the  trusty  Rifos  sequestered 
the  letters  of  Mendez  and  all  others  that  wrote  to  Spain,  in  or- 
der to  assure  himself  of  their  contents.  *  According  to  the  charge 
of  Rojas,  he  did  the  same  thing  at  several  other  times  on  the 
voyage,f  and  with  our  present  customs  and  way  of  thinking, 
this  would  be  a  very  serious  matter,  and  severely  to  be  con- 
demned ;  but  it  was  differently  looked  on  in  the  days  of  Se- 
bastian Cabot,  and  to  appreciate  it  at  its  true  value  we  must 
put  it  in  connection  with  the  idea  of  his  time. 

So  far  as  appears,  among  the  ill-advised  sealed  instructions 
which  the  government  gave  Cabot,  there  was  one  requiring 
him  to  inform  the  Captains  at  the  island  of  Pal  ma  of  the 
course  he  intended  to  take  on  the  voyage.  Upon  this  injunc- 
tion, as  Cabot  said  nothing,  Rojas  accompanied  by  the  others 
appeared  before  him  and  demanded  in  right  of  the  royal  orders 
to  know  what  course  he  intended  to  follow.  Cabot  tried  to 
evade  giving  a  direct  answer,  saying  that  he  had  had  an 
understanding  with  the  sovereign  as  to  what  he  was  to  do  :  but 
Rojas,  who  was  not  a  man  to  be  imposed  on  by  such  answers, 
insisted  on  his  right ;  yet  Cabot  held  firm  and  would  tell 
nothing.^    The  witness  who  confirms  this  charge  of  Rojas 


otracosa  desta  pregunta  mas  de  quanto  dixo  que  oyo  decir  en  la  dicha  ysla  de 

lapalma  y  en  la  dicba  armada  que  loscapitanesy  oficiales se  avian  juntado 

en  casa  del  dicho  santa  crux  veedor  por  los  dichos  armadores  e  quelo  oyo  decir 
a  mucbas  personas  de  la  dicha  armada  publicamente." 

*Probanca  de  Catalina  Vasquez,  Pregunta  xix. — Rojas,  Interrogatory  No.  vi. 

f  Rojas,  lb.  ib. 

X  "  .  .  .  .  el  dicho  Capitan  francisco  de  Rojas  juutamente  con  los  otros 
capitanes  de  la  dicha  armada,  visto  como  el  dicho  Sebastian  gaboto  no  quesia 
dar  ni  dava  la  dicha  derrota  como  por  su  magestad  le  hera  mandado  le  pidieron 
que  se  las  diese . .  .  y  respondio  que  su  magestad  y  el  se  entendian  muy  bien 

"    In  continuation  Rojas  puts  in  Cabot's  mouth  an  insolence  towards  the 

Emperor,  but  the  thing  is  too  unlikely  in  the  person  who  would  have  said  it, 
aud  in  the  circumstances  in  which  it  would  have  been  said.  —Interrogatory  .  . 
.  .  by  Captain  Francis  de  Rojas,  No.  v. 


HE  SAILS  TO  BRAZIL.  1G9 

adds  that  Cabot,  to  quiet  the  Captains'  inquiries  gave  them 
the  course  as  far  as  the  Capo  Verde  Islands,  but  as  his  dep- 
osition is  somewhat  confused  and  not  very  reliable,  I  adhere 
to  the  single  account  of  Rojas. 

From  the  Canaries  the  fleet  sailed  to  the  Cape  Verde  Islands, 
and  from  there  to  Cape  St.  Augustine  in  the  Province  of 
Pernambuco  in  Brazil.  Rojas  at  this  place  accuses  Cabot  of 
having  changed  a  quarter  in  the  direction  of  their  voyage  on 
leaving  the  Cape  Verde  Islands,  which,  he  says  was  the  cause 
of  their  touching  at  Cape  St.  Angustine.*  I  confess  I  do  not 
see  the  force  of  this  charge,  for  I  find  others  keeping  the 
same  course  that  Cabot  took  then,  they  sailed  from  Spain  to 
the  Canaries  just  as  he  did,  from  the  Canaries  to  the  Cape 
Verde  Islands,  and  from  these  to  Cape  St.  Augustine  in  the 
Province  of  Pernambuco. f  Diego  Garcia,  who  led  another 
Spanish  expedition  to  the  regions  of  La  Plata,  and  of  whom 
we  shall  have  more  to  say  anon,  did  the  same  thing  that 
same  year.J  This  Garcia,  so  far  from  being  friendly  to 
Cabot,  was  rather  his  slanderer,  and  twice  accuses  him  of  in- 
capacity in  navigation  on  this  same  voyage  from  the  Cape 
Verde  Islands  to  Cape  St.  Augustine.  The  first  time  he 
accuses  him  of  not  knowing  how  to  choose  the  proper  sea- 
son for  the  voyage,  "because,"  he  says,  "every  navigator 
and  pilot  wTho  wrants  to  sail  to  these  parts  must  know  enough 
to  sail  at  the  time  when  the  sun  makes  summer  there  .... 
and  Sebastian  Cabot  with  all  his  astrology  did  not  know  enough 


*  Interrogatory,  No.  VII, "Item  si  saben  que  por  su  mal  navegacion  y  govierno 
en  el  paraje  de  las  yslas  de  cabo  verde  mudo  una  quarta  de  nuestro  viage  por 
la  qual  dicba  quarta  asi  tomada  fuymos  a  dar  en  el  cabo  de  sant  agustin  e 
provincia  de  pernambuco.7' 

t  [It  seems  to  me  that  Rojas  is  complaining  that  Cabot  went  to  St.  Augustine 
at  all ;  and  not  that  it  was  bad  navigation  to  sail  thither  by  way  of  the  Canary 
and  Cape  Verde  Islands.  Cabot's  destination  was  the  islands  in  the  Molucca 
Passage,  and  his  course  lay  around  Cape  Horn  or  through  Magellan's  Strait, 
but  by  shaping  his  course  too  far  to  the  west  he  came  to  Cape  St.  Au- 
gustine instead  of  keeping  to  the  east  of  it  on  his  way  south.  I  presume 
Cabot  must  have  altered  his  course  for  the  purpose  of  taking  in  supplies  in 
Brazil.  —Translator.] 

%  "Desda  ysla  de  buena  vista  herimos  vela  en  la  buelta  y  demanda  del  cabo 
de  San  Agostin  .  . .  ."  Relacion  y  derrotero  de  Diego  Garcia.  Vid.  App.  xxxviii. 


170  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

for  that."*  In  making  this  accusation,  the  vain  and  conceited 
Garcia,  as  he  will  be  proved  further  on,  did  not  say  or 
did  not  know  that  Sebastian  Cabot's  departure  from  Spain  was 
hastened  by  the  bad  news  received  from  the  Moluccas.  In 
fact,  Peter  Martyr  tells  us  that  the  sailing  of  the  expedition 
was  fixed  for  August  1525,  precisely  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
advantage  of  the  favorable  season  for  that  voyage,f  and  after 
the  sailing  had  to  be  suspended  for  that  year  on  account  of 
the  disagreement  with  the  merchants,  there  is  no  doubt  but 
what  the  following  year  also  they  wTould  have  waited  for  the 
same  season,  for  without  Diego  Garcia's  teaching,  it  was  well 
known  in  Spain  what  was  the  proper  season  for  sailing  to  the 
southern  parts  of  the  New  World.  $ 

Soon  after  this  the  presumptuous  Garcia  turns  again  to  bite 
Cabot,  but  the  meaning  of  that  bite  is  an  insoluble  enigma. 
Speaking  of  the  crossing  from  the  Cape  Verde  Islands  to  Cape 
St.  Augustine,  he  notes  the  difficulty  of  sailing  in  the  currents 
that  flow  from  the  Gulf  of  Guinea,  and  adds  :  "  Sebastian  Cabot 
did  not  know  how  to  take  these  currents,  for  he  was  not  a 
sailor,  and  did  not  know  how  to  navigate. "§  Having  said 
this,  without  adding  any  motive  or  reason  in  support  of  his 
charge,  he  resumes  the  thread  of  his  narrative  and  goes  on  to 
describe  his  voyage. 

nor  nual  quier  nave-ante  e  piloto  que  ha  de  navegar  en  aquellas 
partes  "a'de  conoscer  de  navegar  en  el  tiempo  que  el  sol  haga  verano  en 
aquella  parte  .  .  .  .  v  esta  navegacion  non  supo  tomar  Sebastian  gaboto  con 
toda  bii  astrolugia.  .  .  .  "  ib.  [Verano,  summer  in  modern  Spanish  ;  but  spring 
in  old  Spanish.  Translator.] 
f  «  Est  Cabotus  Augusto  mense  proximi  anni  MDXXV  discessurus.     Dec. 

vii,  cap.  6.  .  .. 

\  Peter  Martyr  after  saying  that  Sebastian  Cabot  was  to  sail  in  the  month 
of  August,  thus  continues  :  "nee  citius  quidem,  quia  nee  prius  queunt  ad  rem 
tantam  necessaria  parari,  nee  per  eelorum  cursus  debet  prius  illud  iter  inekoan  . 
oportet  quippe  tunc  versus  equinoctium  vela  dirigere,  quando  sol  estatem 
nobis  et  dierum  londtudinem  ablaturus,  ad  antictones  penetrare  incipiat. 
Quo  tempore  brevissimi  sunt  apud  populos  arctoas  dies,  longissimos  Ca- 
botus assequetur."  App.  xxxiii. 

$"  ...  este  camino  se  ha  de  navegar  con  grande  resguardo  y  saber  de  mar- 
ineria  porque  ay  grandes  corrientes  que  salen  delos  rrios  de  guinea  que  abaten 

los  navios estas  corrientes  no  supo  tomar  Sebastian  Gaboto  porque  no  era 

marinero  ny  sabia  navegar." 


THE  STAY  AT  PERNAMBUCO.  171 

I  have  already  said  in  another  place,  but  it  seems  well  to 
repeat  it  here,  that  I  stop  to  gather  all  such  trifling  details, 
because  in  the  scarcity  of  more  serious  documents  I  think  it 
necessary  to  treasure  up  every  thing  that  shows  the  circum- 
stances Cabot  was  in,  and  how  he  was  surrounded  by  enmity 
and  aversion. 

They  reached  Pernambuco  in  the  month  of  June,  and  stayed 
there  for  fresh  supplies.*  Thence  the  ships  resumed  their 
voyage,  but  contrary  winds  drove  them  back  to  the  harbor, 
and  for  three  or  four  times  that  they  renewed  the  attempt, 
they  were  compelled  to  yield  every  time  to  the  fury  of  the  sea 
and  seek  shelter  from  the  land.f  This  forced  stay  lasted 
more  than  three  months.  J 

At  Pernambuco  there  was  a  Portuguese  factory,  and  Rojas 
under  the  VII  and  VIII  heads  of  his  Interrogatories  makes 
this  further  accusation  against  Cabot,  that  these  Portuguese,  to 
divert  the  Spanish  expedition  from  sailing  to  the  Moluccas, 
got  around  him  telling  him  marvels  about  the  riches  of  La 
Plata,  and  that  he  hankering  after  that  gold  suddenly  resolved 
to  give  up  the  voyage  to  the  Moluccas  and  stop  on  that  river  ; 
and  for  this  purpose  he  began  to  scheme  with  some  persons  in 
the  expedition  in  order  to  draw  them  into  his  plan.  He  goes 
on  to  say  that  he  opposed  the  change  with  all  his  might,  in 
order  to  keep  his  oath,  and  because  he  saw  the  aim  of  the 
Portuguese,  and  on  this  account  Cabot,  not  being  able  to  over- 
come his  opposition,  had  him  arrested.  § 

Rojas  was  blinded  by  his  hate  for  Cabot  (the  motives  and 

*  Lewis  Ramirez,  App.  xxxvii. 

t  Proofs  of  Sebastian  Cabot,  Interrogatory  xiii.  The  witnesses  are  unanimous 
in  confirming  this.  I  cite  as  samples  a  few  words  of  the  first  witness  and  of  the 
eighth.  The  first  says  :  "Sabe  ques  verdad  lo  contenido  en  la  dicha  pregunta  e 
lo  sabe  porque  vio  hacer  a  la  vela  tres  o  qnatro  vezes  a  la  dicha  armada  para 
llevar  el  dicho  viaje  de  tarsys  e  ofir  e  porque  vio  ansymismo  quel  tiempo  les 
hera  contrario  e  que  por  esto  surgio  en  la  costa  del  brasyl  en  hernanbuco"  .  .  . 
and  the  eighth  .  .  .  .  "  el  dicho  capitan  caboto  mando  que  las  naos  fuesen  su 

viaje .  .  .  .  e  fue   forcado  ....  surgir  en  la  dicha   costa adonde  esto- 

vieron  con  viento  contrario  tie  meses  y  medio  poco  mas  o  menos." 

%  lb.  Interrogatory  xiv.  The  ten  witnesses  called  all  unanimously  confirm 
the  Interrogatory  in  their  deposition. 

g  See  App.  xxxv. 


172  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

proofs  of  which  we  shall  soon  see),  and  in  the  blindness 
of  this  hate,  he  did  not  see  that  he  was  asserting  some- 
thing wholly  incredible.  For  who  could  believe  that  a  man 
who  from  the  love  of  discovery,  postponing  all  thought  of 
gain,  would  have  had  the  nature  and  aim  of  the  expedition 
changed,  and  from  commercial  which  it  was,  had  altered  its 
purpose  and  object  to  exploration  and  discovery,  and  thereby 
drawn  on  himself  the  unrelenting  war  of  those  who  fitted  the 
expedition  out  : — who  could  believe  that  such  a  man,  not  at 
the  first  sight  of  gold  but  at  the  mere  promise  of  it,  would 
suffer  himself  to  be  suddenly  dazzled,  and  resolve  at  once  to 
change  the  nature  of  the  expedition,  and  to  the  brilliant  con- 
tests in  the  unknown  waters  of  the  Ocean  should  prefer  the 
inglorious  labor  of  groping  about  in  new  lands  of  savages  in 
search  and  gathering  of  gold  ?  And  would  not  the  suspicion 
that  the  Portuguese  were  talking  for  the  purpose  of  hindering 
the  passage  of  the  Spanish  expedition  to  the  Moluccas,  which 
Rojas  says  presented  itself  to  his  mind,  not  present  itself  spon- 
taneously not  only  to  Cabot's,  but  to  every  one's  else  ? 

But  why  should  Rojas  have  so  impudently  distorted  the 
truth  ?  Because  a  charge  of  insubordination  and  treachery 
hung  over  his  head,  and  it  was  too  much  for  his  advantage  to 
appear  to  his  judges  as  a  victim  of  his  zeal  for  the  honor 
of  Spain  and  his  loyalty  to  the  Emperor's  orders.  Nor  was 
he  a  man  to  hesitate  at  a  lie  to  gain  his  end. — Of  this  too 
we  shall  have  the  clearest  evidence  further  on. — Moreover  his 
remark  is  not  only  contradicted  by  the  intrinsic  arguments  of 
the  deed  itself,  it  is  openly  belied  by  the  authority  of  Ra- 
mirez an  eye  witness  and  impartial  relator  of  that  voyage.* 
And  Rojas  himself  shows  that  it  is  false  and  calumnious, 
for,  as  happens  when  passion  rules  the  mind,  wishing  to  give 
proof  of  what  he  asserted,  he  was  not  aware  that  the  reasons 
he  presented  bore  the  visible  imprint  of  falsehood.  He  con- 
cludes his  accusation  by  saying  that  Cabot  decided  on  the 
change  "more  from  want  of  courage  than  desire  of  wealth."  f 
Sebastian    Cabot    afraid    of    the    sea  !  The    man  who  first 

*  See  App.  xxxvii.  f"Mas  Por  falta  de  ammo  que  por  Riqueza."No.  7. 


173 

touched  the  frozen  shores  of  Greenland,  first  penetrated  into 
Hudson's  Bay,  whose  courage  and  hardihood  terrified  even  his 
own  mariners  ! 

But  Rojas  does  not  stop  here.  In  the  fury  of  his  attack  he 
attempts  a  more  grave  and  terrible  charge,  saying  that  Cabot 
even  tried  to  have  him  put  to  death.  His  words  are  :  "A  few 
days  after  that,  the  said  Sebastian  Cabot  continuing  in  his 
hate  and  deadly  enmity  against  the  said  Francis  de  Rojas,  and 
seeing  that  he  more  than  any  one  else  asked  and  advised  that 
they  should  follow  the  voyage  which  was  ordered  by  His  Maj- 
esty, to  carry  out  his  evil  intention  more  freely  he  resolved  to 
have  the  said  Captain  Francis  de  Rojas  treacherously  mur- 
dered, and  to  put  it  in  execution  he  had  two  armed  men  at 
certain  times  in  his  room  to  stab  him,  and  as  he  could  not  put 
it  into  effect,  God  not  permitting  such  great  wrong  and 
treason,  in  order  that  per  fas  or  per  nefas  his  damnable 
intention  might  have  effect,  he  issued  process  against  him, 
without  hearing  him  or  giving  him  a  copy  of  it,  suborning 
witnesses  to  depose  falsely  against  the  said  Captain.* 

Rojas  has  charged  Cabot  with  so  many  accusations  evidently 
false  and  calumnious,  that  without  fear  of  offending  truth 
we  might  set  this  accusation  also  down  amongst  the  calum- 
nies without  further  inquiry.  But  as  the  slightest  appear- 
ances suddenly  assume  the  substance  of  great  realities  to  minds 
over-excited  by  passion,  I  am  willing  to  admit  that  either  de- 
ceived by  the  creations  of  his  own  fancy,  or  seduced  by  the 
false  suggestions  of  some  evil  spirit  (for  a  brood  of  such  always 
gathers  around  a  mind  agitated  by  violent  passion), — I  am 
willing   to  admit  that  he  really   believed   in   the  truth  of 


*".  .  .desdes  a  poco  dias  continuando  el  dicho  Sebastian  gaboto  en  el  odio  y  en- 
emistad  capital  que  contra  el  dicho  francisco  de  Rojas  tenia  y  visto  como  el 
mas  que  todos  le  requeria  e  aconsejaba  que  siguiese  el  viaje  que  por  su  niages- 
tad  le  hera  mahdado  para  mas  libremente  cumplir  su  mala  voluntad  acordo 
de  hacer  matar  a  traycion  al  dicho  capitan  francisco  de  Rojas-y  para  ponerlo 
en  efecto  tuvo  dos  personas  armadas  ciertas  veces  en  su  camara  para  que  lo 
matasen  a  pucaladas  e  como  no  pudo  efectuar  no  permitiendo  Dios  tan  grand 
maldad  y  traycion  porque  por  fas  o  por  nefas  su  dagnada  voluntad  aviese 
efecto  hizo  proceso  contra  el  sin  le  oyr  ni  dar  traslado  sobornando  testigos  para 
que  depusiesen  falsamente  contra  el  dicho  Capitan. ..."  No.  ix. 


174  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

an  intended  assassination.  For  Cabot's  complete  acquittal 
it  suffices  for  the  present  to  say  that  the  only  witness  called 
by  Eojas  in  support  of  the  fact,  could  give  the  judges 
no  other  proof  than  this,  that  a  certain  person  had  told 
him  that  he  with  another  had  been  employed  by  Cabot 
to  kill  Eojas.  And  this  witness  who  so  deposes,  very  rarely 
departs  a  hair's  breadth  from  Eojas's  accusation,  but  repeats  it 
often  entirely  in  the  same  words,  even  in  the  case  of  those  ac- 
cusations which  other  proofs  and  testimony  show  clearly  to 
be  false  and  calumnious.*  However,  the  course  of  the  nar- 
rative will  furnish  direct  proof  that  Eojas  was  lying  impu- 
dently when  he  accused  Cabot  of  having  at  Pernambuco 
yielded  to  the  wheedling  of  the  Portuguese,  and  consequently 
his  vaunted  opposition  to  the  alteration  of  the  scope  of  the  ex- 
pedition falls  to  the  ground.  The  real  truth  is  that  the  fac- 
tion hostile  to  Cabot  had  derived  great  advantage  from  the 
long  stay  at  Pernambuco  in  ease  and  idleness.  The  possibil- 
ity of  gathering  together  from  the  different  ships  gave  oppor- 
tunity and  incentive  for  communicating  their  ideas,  favoring 
one  another's  proposals,  gaining  new  partisans,  and  maturing 
plans.  Mendez  and  Eojas  were  the  recognized  leaders  in 
this  movement  of  insubordination  and  mutiny,  and  it  may  be 
that  becoming  bold  from  the  number  and  zeal  of  their  follow- 
ers, they  did  not  go  so  cautiously  to  work  as  the  dangerous- 
ness  of  the  affair  required.  Hence  Cabot,  who  always  kept 
his  eye  on  them,  when  he  deemed  he  had  a  sufficient  hold  on 
them,  came  down  on  them  unexpectedly,  seized  their  papers, 
and  imprisoned  them  both.f     It  is  not  possible  for  us  at  this 

*  "  Oyodecir  a  Alonso  bueno.  .  .  .  quel  dicho  Sebastian  Gavoto  lo  tubo  a  el 
e  a  francisco  casar  ala  puerta  di  su  camara  aparcebidos  para  dar  de  pucalados  a 
Francisco  Rojas." — See  App.  xxxv. 

t  Yten  sy  saben  quel  dicho  Sebastian  Caboto  estando  surto  en  pernambuco 
sobre  la  dicha  costa  del  brasyl  mando  prender  a  losdichos  Francisco  de  Rojas 
e  a  Martin  mendez  por  los  juramentos  e  motines  que  avia  hecho  e  de  cada  dia 
hazia  contra  el  dicho  Sebastian  caboto. — Probanca  de  Sebastian  Caboto,  xv 
Pregunta. 

For  Rojas,  see  also  his  ix,  x,  and  xi  Interrogatories ;  for  Mendez,  the  x  Interrog- 
atory of  the  Proofs  presented  by  his  mother  Catharine  Vasquez  against  Cabot. 

Rojas  speaks  of  this  new  seizure  of  his  letters  at  Pernambuco  in  his  vi  Inter- 
rogatory when  charging  that  previous  seizure  at  Palma  Island, 


KOJAS  AND  MENDEZ  AKKESTED.  175 

distance  of  time,  and  without  the  necessary  documents,  to  de- 
cide whether  in  this  arrest  Cabot  acted  with  all  the  prudence 
required  in  so  important  a  matter  ;  but  we  can  safely  declare 
that  he  was  incredibly  imprudent  and  unwary  in  his  conduct 
after  the  arrest.  He  immediately  began  inquiries  on  all  sides 
for  proofs  of  their  guilt  and  the  treachery  :  then,  after  keeping 
them  for  some  days  confined  on  board  the  Santa  Maria  com- 
manded by  Caro,  whether  because  the  results  of  the  inquests 
did  not  show  sufficient  grounds  for  continuing  this  severity 
towards  them  or  because  he  hoped  by  a  proof  of  kindness  to 
bring  them  to  better  sentiments,  he  sent  to  release  Rojas,  and 
bring  him  to  his  ship,  where  he  rebuked  him  in  a  friendly 
way  for  his  conduct,  and  made  him  see  the  danger  he  brought 
upon  himself  personally  and  on  the  whole  expedition,  and  ex- 
pressing confidence  that  in  the  future  he  would  give  no  cause 
for  suspicion  or  complaint,  sent  him  to  his  own  ship  and  re- 
stored him  to  duty.  In  this  release  there  is  no  mention 
made  of  Mendez,  but  no  doubt  he  was  included,  as  we  find  him 
likewise  at  liberty  in  the  sequel.* 

It  was  a  grave  error  to  proceed  to  the  arrest  of  Mendez  and 
Rojas  unless  he  was  almost  certain  to  show  clearly  their  guilti- 
ness ;  to  set  them  free  after  being  arrested,  and  what  is 
more,  to  restore  Rojas  to  his  former  rank  and  command,'  was 
an  error  so  grave  that  it  is  a  wonder  that  a  man  like  Cabot 
should  make  it.  To  believe  that  a  resolute,  energetic,  proud  man, 
as  every  thing  indicates  that  Rojas  was,  should  let  himself  be 
affected,  if  guilty,  by  a  proof  of  kindness,  was  on  the  part  of 
Cabot  unparalleled  ingenuousness.  For  men  like  that  to  feel 
under  obligations  to  an  enemy  is  not  a  motive  for  friendship 
and  concord,  it  is  a  prick  to  move  fierce  hate  :  the  duty  of 
gratitude  is  a  burden  which  weighs  intolerably  on  their  heart 
and  they  can  feel  no  peace  till  they  rid  themselves  of  it,  and  the 


*  Yten  si  saben  que  antes  que  el  dicho  Sebastian  eaboto  se  partiese  de  pernam- 
buco  que  es  en  la  dicha  costa  del  brasyl  embio  al  dicbo  francisco  de  Rojas  a  la 
nao  trenidad  y  lo  torno  en  su  oficio  de  capital)  como  de  antes  lo  hera  e  le  a- 
monosto  de  parte  de  su  magesta  que  fuese  leal  e  que  serviese  bien  e  Iealmene  a  su 
magestad.  XVI  Pregunta  de  laProbancade  Seb.  Caboto,  App.  xxxvi.  See  also 
Nos.  X  and  XI  of  the  Interrogatory  of  Francesco  de  Rojas,  App.  xxxv. 


17G  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

only  way  they  can  do  that  is  by  exterminating  the  enemy 
who  in  addition  to  all  the  rest,  humiliates  them  with  the  bur- 
den of  gratitude. 

But  it  could  not  have  been  out  of  tenderness  of  heart  that 
Cabot  released  Eojas  :  it  was  more  likely  for  want  of  sure  evi- 
dence of  his  guilt  to  enable  him  to  strike  with  every  appear- 
ance of  justice.  This  was  a  much  more  serious  matter  ;  for 
some  natures  are  so  weak  that  they  count  themselves  lucky 
if  they  can  get  clear  of  an  accusation  in  which  they  are  more 
or  less  truly  entangled,  and  cautiously  preserve  a  prudent 
silence  for  fear  of  worse  ;  but  high-spirited  natures  like  Rojas 
the  more  they  feel  implicated  in  an  accusation  from  which 
they  escape  by  the  height  of  good  fortune  make  all  the  more 
noise,  complain  of  surprise  and  injustice,  protest  their  inno- 
cence before  God  and  men,  and  call  themselves  victims  of  the 
abuse  of  power.  In  the  XI  interrogatory  of  his  charge,  he 
calls  witnesses  to  declare  whether  it  was  said  on  the  ships  that 
Cabot  "kept  him  imprisoned  on  account  of  false  reports  made 
about  him,  and  as  it  was  just  that  if  he  was  guilty  he  should 
not  be  let  go  without  receiving  the  chastisement  he  deserved, 
he  demanded  that  if  he  had  in  any  wise  offended  against  the 
service  of  His  Majesty  and  the  good  order  of  the  said  fleet  he 
should  be  punished  for  it  without  mercy,  and  if  not,  in  the 
name  of  God  and  His  Majesty  he  demanded  the  chastisement 
of  those  detractors  who  had  deposed  falsely  against  him 
as  they  were  the  persons  who  had  sown  tares  of  discord  in  the 
said  fleet.* 

In  this  manner  the  enmity  of  the  opposite  party  was  blown 
into  a  flame,  and  in  the  opinion  of  men  in  good  faith  the 
good  name  of  Cabot  was  injured  and  the  authority  of  that  of 
Rojas  increased. 


*"  Yten  si  .  .  .  .  yo  dire  publicamente  ....  come  el  dicho  Sebastian  gaboto 
me  avia  tenido  preso  por  falsa  relacion  que  de  mi  le  avian  hecao  y  que  pues  hera 
tan  justo  que  si  yo  tubiera  culpa  no  me  soltara  sin  dar  el  castigo  que  por  ella 
merecia  que  le  Requeria  que  si  el  aviese  ecedido  en  alguna  cosa  contra  el  servicio 
de  su  magestad  y  buen  aviamento  de  la  dicha  armada  le  castigase  syn  perdo- 
narle  cosa  alguna  y  donde  no  que  de  parte  de  Diosy  de  su  magestad  le  Requeria 
castigase  a  las  personas  y  detratores  que  contra  el  falsamente  avian  depuesto 
Dues  herau  cabsa  de  meter  discordia  e  zizafla  en  la  dicha  armada  . .  .  .  " 


LOSS  OF  THE  FLAG-SHIP,  177 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

Continuation  of  the  Voyage. 

They  left  Pernambuco  on  the  29th  of  September.  *  When 
they  reached  the  latitude  of  Cape  Faro  they  were  struck  by  a 
violent  storm  in  which  the  flag-ship  lost  her  small-boat. 
Arriving  at  a  place  that  promised  shelter  for  the  ships  with  a 
mountain  near  by  with  plenty  of  timber  for  building,  they 
stopped  there  for  the  purpose  of  replacing  the  lost  boat.f 
The  place  is  the  same  that  was  afterwards  called  the  Bay  of 
Saint  Catharine,  in  27c  35'  S.  L.,  the  name  then  given  to  it 
by  Sebastian  Cabot,  +  But  where  they  expected  to  repair  a 
great  loss,  they  encountered  another  still  greater  and  irrepar- 
able. At  the  entrance  of  the  bay  rise  three  small  islands,  and 
the  ships  made  for  the  channel  which  runs  close  to  the  largest 
of  them,  called  St.  Catharine,  by  the  same  name  as  the  bay. 
Cabot,  apprehensive  on  account  of  their  ignorance  of  the 
place,  and  the  lightness  of  the  wind,  had  ordered  them  to  stop  ; 
but  Michael  Rodas  and  Anthony  de  Grajeda,  one  the  pilot, 
the  other  master  of  the  flag-ship,  insisted  that  it  was  possible 
to  go  ahead  ;  Rodas  even  pledged  his  own  head  and  his  com- 
panion's if  the  ship  was  lost.§  But  Cabot's  fears  were  not  over- 
come by  their  assertion,  and  he  ordered  soundings  to  be  taken 


'  "Al  poco  tiempo  de  baber  salido  de  esie  puerto  (29deSetiembre)  sufrcron 
etc."  Ramirez.  See  App.  xxxvii. 

t  lb  and  the  vi  Interrogatory  which  will  be  given  in  full  very  soon  in  a  note. 
All  the  witnesses  testify  unanimously  in  confirmation  of  what  it  contains. 

{"Salieron  deste  puerto  que  llamaron  St.  Catalina."     Ramirez,  1.  c. 

8  ''oyo  decir  este  testigo  al  dicho  capitan  Sebastian  caboto  que  le  dixo  que 
surgiesen  porque  hera  el  viento  escaso  e  quellos  dixeron  que  los  dexase  andar 
que  se  si  perdiese  la  nao  que  les  cortase  la  eabeca  e  questo  dezia  el  dicho  miguel 
de  Rodas."  X  witness  to  the  viii  Interrogatory. 


178  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

first,  and  charged  Rodas  himself  and  Grajeda  to  take  them.* 
They  reported  that  it  was  perfectly  safe  to  proceed,  f  On 
their  word  the  ship  was  advancing  quietly  when  a  sudden 
shock  told  them  they  had  struck  on  a  bank.J  Michael  de 
Rodas  tore  his  beard  in  despair,  and  wept,  and  cried,  "Hang 
me,  Captain,  " — but  the  ship  was  lost  for  ever.§  Captain 
Francis  de  Rojas  in  his  interrogatories  accuses  Cabot  of  es- 
caping from  his  ship  as  soon  as  it  ran  on  the  bank,  which  dis- 
heartened the  others,  so  that  each  one  thought  only  of  saving 
himself ;  which,  he  says,  was  the  cause  of  the  loss  of  the  ship, 
for  if  it  had  been  attended  to  at  once  it  could  easily  have  been 
got  afloat.  ||  The  charge  is  a  serious  one,  and  if  true  would  be 
a  foul  brand  on  Cabot's  forehead.  But  can  it  be  accepted 
and  believed  with  no  other  evidence  than  the  word  of  Rojas, 
who  not  once  only,  but  repeatedly  proves  himself  most  clearly 
a  liar  and  slanderer  ?  Besides,  where  he  declares  that  but  for 
him  and  his  energy,  zeal,  and  courage  the  whole  or  most  of 


*VI  pregunta.  —  "Yten  si  saben  quel  dicbo  Sebastian  caboto  enbio  amiguel 
de  Rodas  piloto  de  la  nao  capitana  e  anton  de  grajeda  rnaestre  de  la  dicha  nao 
capitana  a  sondar  entre  la  ysla  de  santa  cataliua  y  la  tierra  firine  para  que  mirasen 
si  avia  lugar  para  llevar  las  naos  eu  buen  puerto  porque  estavan  surtas  entre  tres 
yslas  pequecas  que  estavan  junto  a  la  dicha  ysla  de  santa  catalina  porque  avia 
de  hazer  un  batel  para  la  nao  capitaua  porque  perdio  el  que  tenia  a  cabo  frio 
con  una  gran  tormenta." 

f  VII  pregunta.  "Yten  si  saben  quel  dicho  miguel  de  Rodas  piloto  e  anton 
de  grajeda  rnaestre  fueron  a  sondar  entre  la  dicha  ysla  de  santa  catalina  y  la 
tierra  finne  e  se  bolvieron  al  dicho  capitan  Sebastian  caboto  e  le  dixerion  que 
avian  sondado  e  que  avia  lugar  para  carracas." — Probancade  Sebastian  Caboto. 

X  "  Yten  sy  saben  que  la  dicha  nao  capitana  que  se  perdio  en  la  ysla  de  santa 
catalina  f  ue  por  culpa  del  dicho  miguel  de  Rodas  piloto  de  la  dicha  nao  e  de  an- 
ton de  grajeda  rnaestre  de  la  dicha  nao  porque  no  sondaron  como  el  dicho  se- 
bastiano  caboto  les  mando."— VIII  Pregunta  de  la  Probanda  de  Sebastian  Ca- 
boto.    All  the  nine  witnesses  confirm  the  guilt  of  Rodas  and  Grajeda. 

§  ".  .  .  estando  ansi  perdida  estava  el  dicho  miguel  de  Rodas  mesandose  las 
barvas  e  llorando  e  diziendo  ahorqueme  el  capitan.  .  . ."  The  witnesses  to  the  viii 
Interrogatory. 

\  "toco  la  nao  capitana  su  un  banco  lo  qual  visto  por  el  dicho  Sebastian  gaboto 
con  falta  de  animo  la  desamparo  luego  y  se  f  ue  huyendo  a  tierra  e  visto  la  gente 
de  la  dicha  nao  quel  capitan  della  huga  y  los  dejaba  desamparados  perdieron 
el  animo  de  rremediar  la  dicha  nao  y  cada  uno  procuraba  como  mejor  podia 
de  salvar  su  persona  e  que  a  cabsa  delo  qual  perdio  la  dicha  nao  lo  que  no  hi- 
ziera  sy  el  dicho  Sebastian  gaboto  no  huyera  y  la  desamparara.  .  ."  No.  15. 


LOSS  OF  THE  FI7AG-SHH\  179 

the  cargo  of  the  ship  would  have  been  lost ;  *  a  witness  who 
belonged  to  the  crew  of  that  ship  and  was  present  at  the  mis- 
fortune and  the  landing  of  the  persons  and  things,  says  the 
merit  of  saving  the  most  of  the  cargo  was  wholly  due  to  the 
orders  and  activity  of  Cabot,  f 

In  their  distress  for  the  loss  of  the  flag-ship  they  all  felt  a 
happy  sense  of  relief  on  learning  from  some  Indians  in  canoes 
that  there  were  Christians,i.e.  Europeans,  in  the  neighborhood. 
Indeed,  one  of  them  presented  himself  the  next  day  and  said 
there  were  fifteen  of  them,  all  belonging  to  Loaysa's  fleet,  left 
there  in  consequence  of  a  great  storm  which  the  fleet  suffered 
from  in  that  sea.  The  rest  too,  as  was  natural,  ran  to  see  and 
welcome  them  as  soon  as  they  knew  of  their  arrival.  J 

After  the  accident  to  the  flag-ship,  instead  of  building  a 
small-boat,  they  had  to  think  of  constructing  a  galiot  to  carry 
as  much  of  the  cargo  as  they  were  able  to  save  from  the 
wreck. §  But  the  portion  saved  was  less  than  that  which  they 
were  forced  to  see  perish,  and  the  loss  of  the  ship  was  a  blow 
which  the  expedition  never  got  over. 

The  witnesses  called  in  the  suit  between  Cabot  and  Vasquez 
say  unanimously  that  in  the  flag-ship  the  expedition  lost 
heavily  in  provisions  and  ammunition;  and  one  testifies  that  in 


*  "si  por  el  dicho  capitan  francisco  de  Rojas  que  como  buen  servidor  de  su 
magestad  arriesgo  su  persona  no  fuera  seperdieran  las  dichas  cosas  ola  mayor 
parte  dellas  .  .  .  ."  No.  16  of  bis  interrogatories 

f  "sabe  e  vio  ansimismo  que  todo  lo  que  se  pudo  salvar  de  la  dicha  nao  se 
saco  e  se  puso  mucha  deligencia  en  ello  porque  anei  lo  maudava  el  dicho  capi- 
tan Sebastian  caboto  e  se  hazia  asy  e  lo  vio  asy  este  testigo  porquestava  en  la  di- 
cha nao  capitana  al  tiempo  que  se  perdio."  X  witness  to  ix  Int.  of  Cabot's 
proofs. 

%  Ramirez,  App.  xxxvii.  These  men  belonged  to  the  crew  of  the  S.  Gabriel, 
one  of  the  seven  ships  of  Loaysa,  which  was  commanded  by  Don  Rodrigo  de 
Acunha.  Terribly  beaten  about  by  a  violent  storm  for  many  days,  he  had  the 
good  fortune  of  finding  refuge  in  this  bay.  But  a  great  part  of  his  men,  worn 
out  by  the  sufferings  endured, dreading  those  which  still  awaited  them, on  land- 
ing here,  refused  to  continue  on  the  voyage,  and  as  he  insisted  on  their  return- 
ing to  their  duty  he  was  so  far  from  moving  them  that  it  was  all  he  could  do 
to  escape  from  them  with  his  life.  Only  a  few  of  those  who  remained  on  shore 
were  alive;  the  most  of  them  were  drowned  by  the  capsizing  of  a  boat  they 
were  in.  See  Navarrete,  v,  Doc.  No.  xv,  p.  313,  &s. 

$  Ramirez  1.  c.  —Cabot  in  the  xvii  Question  of  his  proofs. 


180  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

his  opinion  they  lost  no  less  than  half  of  their  stores  of  food  be- 
sides shrouds,  sail's,  anchors,  and  all  sorts  of  marine  stores  that 
were  stowed  there  for  the  fleet's  use  ;  and  that  this  ship  alone 
was  more  valuable  than  all  the.  others  together.*  To  this  loss, 
which  was  incalculably  great  in  the  case  of  an  expedition  con- 
templating a  long  voyage,  must  be  added  another  still  greater, 
that  all  or  nearly  all  the  expedition  fell  sick,  and  for  the  most 
part,  to  fall  sick  and  to  die  were  the  same  thing.  On  this  all 
agree  ;  Ramirez  in  his  narrative,  Cabot's  accusers,  and  Cabot 
himself.f  The  voyage  from  Pernambuco  to  St.  Catharine  had 
.  been  most  laborious,  and  as  many  of  the  expedition  were 
not  seamen,  but  persons  engaged  in  trade,who  followed  Cabot 
for  the  account  of  the  Merchants'  Company  with  a  view  to 
the  gains  hoped  for  from  the  Moluccas  and  the  fancied  lands  of 
Ophir  and  Tarshish,  these  unaccustomed  to  long  and  labor- 
ious navigation,  all  reached  St.  Catharine  already  broken  with 
labor  and  suffering.  To  restore  them  they  needed  a  healthy 
climate,  good  and  wholesome  food,  and  instead  of  these  they 
found  the  direct  opposites  :  the  climate  especially,  with  its  in- 
tense heat,  its  moisture,  and  the  exhalations  from  the  low 
grounds  and  rank  vegetation,  proved  fatal  to  them.  They  caught 
a  violent  fever  against  which  there  was  no  defense  ;  they  were 
taken  down  with  the  disease  and  never  got  up  again.  Many 
of  the  sailors  even,  yielded  to  the  malignant  sickness.  And  the 
very  few  who  came  out  clear  from  that  pestilence  might  count 
it  a  miracle.  The  greater  part  of  the  men  were  sick,  say 
some  of  the  witnesses  ;  all  or  nearly  all  were  so,  say  the  others.;): 

*  "paresce  aeste  dicho  testigo  que  la  dicha  naocapitana  hera  los  dos  partes 

de  dicha  armada porque  en  la  dicha  nao  yvan  muchos   aparejos  para  la 

dicha  armada  de  xarcias  y  rescates  y  ancoras  y  velas  e  otras  mucbas  cosas  y 
mucho  mantenimiento  e  que  cree  este  testigo  que  avia  mas  mantenimiento  en  la 
dicha  nao  capitana  que  no  en  todas  las  otras naos  e  que  lo  cree  por  que  al  tiempo 

que  se  perdio  la  dicha  nao  vio  lo  que  avia  en  ella "  x  testigo  a  la  xii  Pre- 

gunta.  See  also  ix  Pregimta. 

f  See  Rojas,  Interrogatory  xvii.—  Cabot,  Pregunta  x  of  his  proofs.— Ramirez, 
App.  xxxlHi. 

X  Pregunta  x  de  la  Probanda  de  Sebastian  Caboto. 

I.     Testigo en  la  ysla  de  Santa  Catalina  adolescfo  mucha  gente  o  todo  de 

lo  que  yva  en  la  dicha  armada  e  se  murierou  alii  muchos  dellos  de  calenturas 
que  les  dio  e  de  la  tierra  que  los  provo. , , , 


REPORTS  OF  WEALTH  ON  LA  PLATA.  181 

And  better  than  by  the  witnesses'  words  we  are  told  so  by  the 
state  of  the  fleet,  when  it  again  sets  sail  to  continue  #re  voy- 
age. 

Besides  the  fifteen  Spaniards  of  Loaysa's  fleet  there  were  at 
that  bay  two  others  who  had  belonged  to  that  of  John  Diaz  de 
Solis,  and  were  with  him  at  the  discovery  of  the  Rio  de  La 
Plata.  These  were  Melchior  Ramirez  and  Henry  Montes, 
and  they  fraternized  more  closely  than  the  others  with  Ca- 
bot's people. 

"  These,"  says  Lewis  Ramirez  in  his  narrative,  "informed 
the  captain  of  the  great  treasures  of  the  country,  and  that  as- 
cending the  River  de  Solis  and  entering  Paraguay  they 
would  find  a  ridge  abounding  in  gold,  silver,  and  other  metals, 
with  ivhichthey  might  fill  their  vessels."*  The  general  asked  them 
for  a  specimen  of  that  gold  and  silver,  and  they  told  how  some 
of  their  companions  being  near  those  mountains  were  able  to 
observe  the  pieces  of  gold  obtained  from  that  ridge,  and  which 
the  Indians  were  carrying.  Wishing  to  go  back  to  that  place 
they  were  attacked  by  Guaranis  to  rob  them  of  the  slaves 
they  were  taking  loaded  with  the  metal ;  and  that  on  this 
account,  and  because  they  had  sent  to  Spain  a  little  before,  as 
much  as  two  arrobas,f  of  gold,  they  only  kept  a  few  pieces, 
that  they  had  set  aside  for  the  Virgin  of  Guadalupe^  the  only 


III.  Testigo vio  la  mas  de  la  gente  de  la  dicha  armada  cayeron  ma- 

los 

V.  Testigo  .  r.  .los  mas  dellos  cayeron  todos  malos 

VIII.  Testigo enfermaron  toda  o  la  mas  parte  de  la  gente 

IX.  Testigo murieron  hartos  de  los  que  yvan  en  la  dicha  armada,... todos 

que  no  quedo  ninguuo  de  los  que  yvan  en  la  dicha  armada  adolescieron.... 

X.  Testigo en  la  ysla  de  santa  catalina  adolesci6  toda  la  geute.  .  .  .que  no 

quedo  ninguno. 

The  answers  to  the  xii  Interrogatory  repeat  and  confirm  this,  that  nearly  all 
were  taken  sick,  and  many  died  immediately,  or  within  a  few  days  after  they 
left  St.  Catharine's  Bay. 

*"....  los  quales  informaron  al  capitan  de  la  gran  riqueza  de  la  tierra  y  de 
como  saliendo  del  rio  de  solis  y  entrando  por  el  Paraguaj  llesrarien  a  dar 
con  una  sierra  abundante  en  oro,  plata  y  otros  metales,  con  los  pudierian 
llenar  las  naves."  See  App.  xxxvii. 

*+  The  Arroba  is  a  Spanish  weight  equal  to  25  pounds  of  16  ounces  each. 

%  Guadalupe  is  a  eity  of  Spain  in  the  province  of  Toledo,  where  there  is  a 


182  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

pieces  of  gold  they  showed.     To  their  offer  to  go  with  him, 
the  Captain  replied  that  his  road  did  not  lie  that  way.* 

From  the  narrative  of  Ramirez  it  is  clear  that  it  was  at 
the  Bay  of  St.  Catharine  that  Cabot  was  first  told  of  the  wealth 
of  the  Plata  ;  a  further  proof  that  Rojas  lied  when  he  accused 
Cabot  of  believing  the  words  of  the  enemies  of  Spain,  the 
Portuguese,  at  Pernambuco,  and  on  their  stories  deciding  at 
that  time  to  stop  his  expedition  at  the  Plata.  Ramirez  is  a 
witness  free  from  all  suspicion,  for  he  was  present  all  through, 
and  wrote  his  narrative  from  the  banks  of  the  Plata  itself, 
more  than  two  years  before  the  expedition  returned  to  Spain; 
at  a  time  not  only  when  nothing  could  have  been  known  of 
the  suit  which  was  brought  after  the  return  to  Europe,  but  he 
was  even  ignorant  » whether  Rojas  and  the  rest  were 
still  alive,  and  whether  he  himself  would  ever  return  to 
Spain  ;  and  he  was  the  first  to  give  an  unofficial  account  of 
the  voyage,  and  sent  it  to  Spain  by  the  first  ship  of  that  ex- 
pedition which  revisited  Europe.  It  agrees  perfectly  with 
what  Cabot  says  in  his  defence  to  the  charges  made  by  the 
mother  of  Martin  Mendez.f  All  the  ten  witnesses  produced 
by  Cabot  not  only  confirm  his  words,  but  one  of  them  even 
mentions  the  persistency  of  the  two  Spaniards  to  overcome 
Cabot's  reluctance,  and  winning  over  to  their  views  the  wishes 
and  hopes  of  the  men  who  accompanied  him.  One  of  the 
latter  who  went  home  with  Montes  and  saw  the  quantity 
of  gold  Ramirez  tells  of  which  he  was  keeping,  speaks  of  it  in 
these  words  :  "  He  told  the  men  of  the  expedition  that  never 


celebrated  sanctuary  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin.  It  is  the  same  sanctuary 
after  which  Christopher  Columbus  named  one  of  the  islands  of  the  Antilles. 

*  "  a  la  offerta  que  ellos  hicieron  de  acompafiaile  coutesto  el  capitan  que 
no  era  aquel  su  camino."  See  App.  xxxvii. 

f  "  Yten  si  saben  que  en  la  dicha  ysla  de  santa  catalina  se  hallaron  dos  onbres 
que  avian  ydo  con  el  capitan  juan  diaz  de  solis  e  dixeron  al  dicho  capitan 
Sebastian  caboto  e  a  toda  la  gente  de  la  armada  que  fuesen  al  Rio  de  solis 
porque  avia  ay  grandes  riquezas  de  oro  e  plata  e  que  unos  compafieros  suyos 
avian  ydo  alia  e  traydo  mucho  oro  y  plata  lo  qual  avian  enbiado  a  espafia  e 
que  los  dichos  sus  compafieros  bolvieron  otra  vez  alia  y  traxeron  ciertas  mues- 
tras  de  oro  y  plata  al  dicho  capitan  Sebastian  caboto  las  quales  muestras  vieron 
la  gente  de  la  armada  el  uno  de  los  quales  se  llamava  enriqne  montes  y  el  otro 
melchor  ramirez  natural  de  la  villa  de  lcpe."     Pregunta  xviii. 


THE  DECISION  TO  ASCEND  LA  PLATA.  183 

were  men  so  fortunate  as  those  of  the  fleet,  for  it  was  said 
there  was  enough  silver  and  gold  at  the  River  de  Solis  to  make 
them  all  rich.  "  *  Another  relates  of  Montes  that  he  showed 
the  men  of  the  expedition  his  specimens  of  gold,  and  told 
wonders  of  the  riches  of  that  country,  and  that  they  might 
load  all  their  ships  with  gold  and  silver,  f  Their  words  nat- 
urally gained  the  power  of  effective  eloquence  from  the  fact 
that  they  had  been  companions  of  Solis,  and  were  eye-witnesses 
of  what  they  related,  and  offered  themselves  as  safe  guides  sure 
of  the  way. 

A  fleet  in  normal  condition,  trusting  and  agreeing  with 
its  commander,  with  provisions  and  ammunition,  in  good 
health,  would  doubtless  have  felt  its  constancy  shaken 
by  such  words,  and  every  heart  would  have  struggled  between 
continuing  the  voyage  to  the  end  as  determined  on,  and  stop- 
ping at  the  prospect  of  such  unexpected  abundance  of  gold'. 
Now  that  every  thing  was  wrong,  minds  heated  with  disputes 
and  suspicions,  bodies  weakened  by  pestilence,  the  strength  of 
the  ships  half  destroyed,  most  of  the  provisions  lost,  it  would 
have  been  an  almost  incredible  miracle  if  they  had  re- 
sisted the  temptation.  But  why  speak  of  temptation  ?  The  fleet 
was  in  a  condition  to  take  advantage  of  the  offer  as  of  a  pro- 
viding by  Heaven  for  their  necessities.  Indeed,  when  we 
see  them  afterwards  sailing  from  St.  Catharine,  there  are 
so  few  men  fit  for  duty  that  it  is  difficult  to  muster  hands 
enough  to  work  the  ship  ;  and  death  will  continue  on  the  voy- 
age to  make  fresh  victims  of  those  left  ;  and  the  scarcity 
of  provisions  in  consequence  of  the  unexpected  stopping 
at  Pernambuco,  the  additional  delay  at  the  Bay  of  St.  Catha- 
rine, and  the  loss  of  the  flag-ship  will  be  such  that  on  arriving 
at  the  mouths  of  the  river  they  will  be  in  distress. 


*  I  Testigo "  Dixo  que fne  a  buscar  a  Enrique  montes  0  le  hallo  e 

vio  como  tenia  unas  cuentasde  oroe  un  poco  de  plata  e  como  dezia  a  la  gente 
de  la  dicha  armada  que  nunca  onbres  f ueron  tan  bien  aventurados  como  los  de 
la  dicha  armada  porque  dezian  que  avia  tanta  plata  y  oro  en  el  Rio  de  solis  que 
dezian  que  todos  serian  ricos " 

f  III  Testigo.  .."e  que  ansymismo  vio este testigo  las  dichas  muestras  deoro 
y  plata  que  las  mostro  a  este  testigo  e  a  otros  el  dicho  enrique  montes  e  que  le 
dezia  mira  hijos  que  desto  se  cargara  las  naos  de  ero  e  de  plata. ..." 


184 


THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 


On   the   other   hand,  Cabot  and  a  few   besides  regarded 
the  expedition  as  aiming  at  the  coveted  discovery  of  Ophir  and 
Tarshish,    but   most   of  them  had   in  view   the    wealth  of 
the  Moluccas,  for  which  alone  the  merchants  of  Seville  had  for 
the  first  time  united  to  get  that  fleet  together.  Stopping  then 
at  the  Plata  the  precise  purpose  of  the  expedition  was  aban- 
doned, but  its  object  was  substantially  achieved.   And  even 
if  Cabot  was  anxious  to  keep  up  to  the  level  of  the  purpose  in 
view,    what   means   had    he    of  repairing   the  ruin    of  his 
fleet?      He  might   maintain  respect  and  obedience  to   his 
authority  with  a  stronger  hand  ;    he  might  hope  that  his 
men    now    overcome    by  fatigue   and   sickness    might   re- 
cover once  they  were  away  from  the  deadly  air  of  St  Catharine; 
but  how  supply  the  want  of  food  ?  He  could  not  at  St.  Catha- 
rine, for  his  men  were  nearly  all  sick,  and  if  he  did  not  hurry 
away  there    would    soon    be    none    of  them    left,    and    the 
Indigenes,  good   and  willing  as  they  were,  were  only  able  to 
afford  a  scant  relief  for  a  few  days.  For  the  sick  they  could  do 
nothing,  for  the  food  of  the  country  so  far  from  helping  to  re- 
store them  to  health  is  said  by  one  of  the  witnesses  to  be  a  prin- 
cipal cause  of  the  sickness,  the  stomachs  of  the  Spaniards  not 
being  accustomed  to  it.*  And  how  little  European  food  they 
had  left  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  when  they  came  to  the 
Plata  and  wanted  to  ascertain  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  they 
could  only  collect  from  all   the    vessels    fifty-two  grains  of 
wheat  for  sowing. f      What  was  there  left  for  a  prudent  com- 
mander to  do  in  such  circumstances  ?  To  seize  the  only  means 
of  safety  open  to  him.  J  That  is  what  Cabot  did.  He  assembled 


*  The  ninth  witness  to  the  x  Interrogatory  of  Sebastian  Cabot  says.  ".  .  .  . 
murieron  hartos  .  . .  .  y  cree  que  a  causa  de  ser  la  navegacion  larga  e  mudar  los 
ay  res  y  tierras  y  bastimentos  adolescieron  e  murieron  .  .  .  ." 

f  "Senbraron  en  el  mes  de  setiembre  LII  granos  de  tigro  q  no  se  hallo  mas  en 
las  naos  .  .  .  ."  From  the  inscription  on  the  chart  of  Sebastian  Cabot  of  1544. 
See  App.  No.  xxxix. 

%  "...  el  qua  duo  Capitan  Sebastian  Caboto  vino  a  este  Rio  por  caso  fortu- 
ito,  porque  la  nao  capitana  en  q  yva  se  le  perdio,  y  visto  que  no  podia  seguir 
el  dicho  su  viaje,  accordo  de  descubrir  con  la  gSte  que  lleava  el  dicho  Rio,  vista 
la  "gmdissima  relacion  que  los  Indios  de  la  tierra  le  dieron  de  la  gradis- 
simariqueza  de  oro  y  plata,  que  en  la  dha  tierra  avia.  .  .  ."  ib.  "Yten  sy  saben 


THE  DECISION  TO  ASCEND  LA  PLATA;  185 

his  officers,  put  the  matter  before  them,  and  by  their  ad- 
vice and  approval  decided  to  keep  the  fleet  at  £he  Plata.  Only 
two  officers  were  against  it,  or  if  we  take  only  disinter- 
ested witnesses,  a  single  one,  Rojas.  We  have  already  seen  how 
he  boasted  of  having  opposed  the  change  of  the  voyage 
at  Pernambuco  ;  but  that,  except  in  his  boast,  there  is  no 
hint  from  any  quarter  that  any  thing  of  the  sort  was  thought 
of  at  Pernambuco,  that  all  the  circumstances  contradict 
it,  and  the  testimony  of  Lewis  Ramirez  absolutely  denies  it. 
It  is  therefore  clear  that  Rojas  in  the  bitterness  of  his  enmity 
towards  Cabot  maliciously  altered  the  place  where  this  delib- 
eration was  held,  because  at  St.  Catharine  there  was  every 
thing  to  excuse  Cabot,  and  at  Pernambuco  every  thing  would 
have  shown  him  to  blame.  His  opposition  at  St.  Catharine  is 
mentioned  by  one  of  the  witnesses  called  to  testify  whether  the 
voyage  was  altered  with  or  without  the  approval  of  all 
the  officers.  "From  there,"  the  witness  says,  "they  sailed  for 
the  River  de  Solis,  and  it  seemed  to  the  witness  that  it 
was  with  the  agreement  of  the  said  officers,  because  the 
witness  saw  no  attempt  of  the  said  officers  to  prevent  it, 
except  that  he  heard  say  that  the  said  Captain  Rojas  urged 
that  they  should  not  go  to  the  River  de  Solis,  but  con- 
tinue their  voyage."*  What  motive  had  Rojas  in  this  opposi- 
tion ?  It  can  be  inferred  with  certainty,  by  setting  it  all 
down  to  his  enmity  towards  Cabot.  He  opposed  the  change 
because  Cabot  proposed  it :  in  the  desperate  circumstances  in 
which  the  fleet  was,  he  would  have  supported  it,  if  Cabot  had 


que  perdida  la  dicha  nao  capitana  no  pudo  el  dicho  Sebastian  caboto  seguir  su 
viaje  porque  la  dicha  nao  capitana  bera  la  mitad  de  la  armada  e  tambien 
porque  toda  la  gente  enfermo  luego  con  el  ayre  de  la  tierra  que  los  provo." — xii 
Preguntade  la  Probanca  de  Seb.  Caboto. 

The  witnesses  confirm  this,  especially  the  X,  who  stops  to  tell  the  enor- 
mous loss  of  provisions  on  the  flag-ship,  shrouds,  sails,  anchors,  every  sort  of 
ship  tackle.  The  X  repeats  and  confirms  the  same  thing  with  new  testimony  to 
the  xis  Interrogatory. 

*" de  alii  se  partieron  para  el  Rio  de  solis,  e  le  paresce  a  este  testigo 

que  seria  con  accuerdo  de  losdichos  oficiales  por  queste  testigo  no  les  vio  hazer 
deligencia  ninguna  a  los  dichos  oficiales  para  que  no  fuesen  salvo  que  oyo  de- 
ck quel  dicho  capitau  Rojas  le  avia  requerido  que  no  fuese  al  Rio  de  solis  syno 
que  seguiese  su  viaje  .  ,  .  ." 


186  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

shut  his  ears  to  the  splendid  promises  of  the  River  de  Solis. 

The  other  opponent  of  the  change  was  Mendez,  if  we 
credit  the  XX  interrogatory  of  the  accusation  which  his 
mother  Catharine  Vasquez  brought  against  Sebastian  Cabot. 
But  no  witness  answered  this  interrogatory,  and  nowhere  else 
is  there  any  mention  of  his  opposition.  The  witnesses  also 
declare  in  many  places  that  Cabot  always  acted  in  matters  of 
importance  by  the  advice  of  the  officers.  Most  of  all  then 
he  would  have  asked  their  advice  and  conformed  to  it  in  this 
the  most  important  matter  of  all,  one  that  altered  substan- 
tially the  nature  and  scope  of  the  expedition.* 

They  sailed  from  the  Bay  of  St.  Catharine  February  15, 1527, 
and  if,  notwithstanding  the  great  number  sick  and  the  many 
dead,they  were  able  to  complete  the  construction  of  the  galiot 
in  a  relatively  short  time,  it  was  due  to  the  assistance  of  the  na- 
tives influenced  by  the  pressure  and  zeal  of  Henry  Montes  who 
had  acquired  great  authority  over  them.f 

The  state  of  the  expedition,  in  consequence  of  the  loss  of  the 
flag-ship  and  the  number  sick  or  dead,  was  most  desperate, 
but  it  would  be  childish  to  suppose  that  in  the  general  distress 
there  was  any  taming,  or  even  temporary  cessation,  of  personal 
enmity.  Human  minds  brutalized  by  passion  are  not  so  noble. 
But  rather,  when  misfortune  gives  a  good  chance  to  vent  their 
rage,  with  fierce  eagerness  they  seize  on  that,  and  the  grief  and 
complaint  become  weapons  to  strike  with  and  to  kill.  What 
we  are  going  to  relate  shows  that  this  must  have  been  true  in 
the  case  of  this  expedition. 

Here  is  the  fact  as  Cabot  briefly  tells  it  in  the  twenty-third 
point  of  his  defense  .  "Let  the  witnesses  tell  whether  they 
know  that  Cabot  being  with  his  fleet  at  the  island  of  St.  Cath- 
arine found  sufficient  information  that  the  said  Francis  de 
Rojas,  Martin  Mendez,  and  Michael  de  Rodas  had  stirred  the 
whole  fleet  to  mutiny  against  him,  and  he,  having  the  said 
information  and  issuing  process  against  them,  although  they 

*"Dixoque...todas  las  cosas  que  hazian  que  tocavan  al  servicio  de  su  mages- 
tad  e  a  la  dicha  armada  lo  hazian  con  su  consejo  e  acuerdo  de  los  dichos  ofi- 
ciales.  , .  ."  x  witness  to  the  xvii  Interrogatory  of  Cabot's  proofs. 

t  Ramirez,  1.  c. 


ARREST  OF  ROJAS   AND  OTHERS.  187 

deserved  capital  punishment,  was  loath  to  inflict  it,  but  treat- 
ing them  with  mercy,  deposed  them  and  left  them  on  the 
said  island.* 

Here,  by  way  of  parenthesis,  I  think  it  well  to  anticipate  a 
difficulty  which  might  present  itself  later  to  the  reader.  Ca- 
bot and  the  witnesses  say  that  these  officers  were  deposed  at 
the  island  of  St.  Catharine  ;  others  say,  instead,  the  island  of 
Patos.  To  explain  the  matter,  it  should  be  known  that  in 
the  bay  where  Cabot  was  then,  there  is  an  island  of  some  size, 
called  by  him  St.  Catharine,  from  which  the  bay  is  named. 
Near  this  island  there  are  others  not  so  large,  one  of  which  is 
called  Patos  ;  f  and  it  was  at  the  latter  that  Cabot  really  de- 
posed the  three  officers  ;  but  he  indicates  the  place  by  the  gen- 
eral name  of  the  bay. 

The  witnesses  called  to  answer  Cabot's  interrogatory  testify 
to  the  arrest  and  deposal,  but  for  the  causes  they  either  know 
nothing  or  merely  repeat  what  was  generally  reported  in  the 
fleet,  that  there  had  been  an  attempt  to  get  the  men  of  the  ex- 
pedition to  rebel  against  their  leader.  Only  one  in  his  testi- 
mony throws  a  ray  of  light  on  the  obscurity  which  confronts 
us.  He  relates  having  seen  the  anchor  weighed  and  the  sails 
set  of  the  caravel  while  the  men  of  the  expedition  were  on 
shore,  and  he  heard  it  said  in  the  fleet  that  they  wanted  to 
mutiny  with  this  vessel,  but  he  did  not  see,  nor  hear  tell  who 
they  were  who  wanted  to  mutiny  ;  but  it  was  reported  that 
Cabot  had  hot  words  about  it  with  Baptist  de  Negron,  the 
master  of  the   caravel.^     From   this    testimony  it  appears 

M'Yten  si  saben  questando  el  dicho  Sebastian  caboto  con  la  dicha  su  armada 
en  la  dicha  ysla  de  santa  catalina  ovoynformacion  vastante  de  como  los  dichos 
francisco  de  Rojas  y  martin  Mendez  e  miguel  de  Rodas  amotinavan  toda  la 
gente  de  la  dicha  armada  contra  el  dicho  capitan  y  avida  la  dicha  ynformacion 
y  hecho  proceso  contra  ellos  aunque  merescian  pena  de  muerte  no  se  la  quiso 
dar  usando  de  piedad  con  ellos  desterro  en  la  dicha  ysla  de  santa  catalina."  Int. 
xxiii. 

t  "la  dicha  nao  aporto  al  puerto  de  los  patos  ques  cerca  de  la  dicha  ysla  de 
santa  catalina."— vi  witness  to  xxii  Int.  of  Cat.  Vasquez. 

+  VIII.  testigo.  ".  .  .  este  testigo  .  .  .  .  vio  quel  dicho  capitan  caboto  mando 
echar  en  la  dicha  ysla  de  santa  catalina  a  los  dichos  francisco  de  Rojas  e  mar- 
tin mendez  e  miguel  de  rodas  pero  queste  testigo  non  sabe  porque  ni  por  que 
no  lox  dexo  mas  de  quanto  vio  este  testigo  que  traxeron  il  leme  y  las  velas  de 


188  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

that  an  attempt  at  mutiny  was  made,  but  failed  ;  and 
as  the  name  of  Rqjas  was  not  mentioned  nor  that  of  the 
other  two,  we  must  presume  that  they  did  not  openly  show 
themselves,  but  remained  ready  to  come  forward  if  the  affair 
showed  signs  of  succeeding.  But  it  could  not  have  been 
difficult  for  the  commander  of  the  expedition  to  recognize 
at  once  who  were  at  the  head  of  the  attempt.  The 
previous  acts  at  Pernambuco  must  have  kept  him  always 
awake  not  to  lose  sight  of  the  three  most  dangerous  officers,  to 
watch  their  words,  and  to  count  their  steps.  And  this  con- 
tinual suspicion  with  his  constant  watchfulness  was,  no  doubt, 
what  caused  the  revolt  to  miscarry,  and  consequently  the  first 
steps  of  the  inquiry  were  at  once  directed  towards  these  three. * 
After  the  deposal  of  Mendez,  Kifos,  who  had  performed  the 
duties  of  Lieutenant  of  the  expedition,  assumed  the  title.  + 

An  addition  at  the  end  of  Sebastian  Cabot's  proofs  says  : 
"There  was  another  inquiry  made  by  Sebastian  Cabot  while 
on  the  ships,  on  which  he  commanded  the  arrest  of  Francis  de 
Rqjas,  Martin  Mendez,  and  Michael  de  Rodas,  and  on  this 
he  found  their  guilt  for  which  he  abandoned  them,  and 
there  are  in  it  certain  opinions  which  he  took  in  order  to  de- 
cide what  he  should  do  in  the  matter.  It  was  made  July  2, 
1526,  without  interrogatories"  J 


la  caravela  de  la  dicha  armada  estaudo  la  dicha  gente  en  tierra  e  questo  testigo 
pregunto  que  porque  trayan  el  dicho  teme  e  velas  de  la  dicha  caravela  e  que 
oyo  decir  a  la  gente  de  la  dicha  armada  que  porque  se  avian  querido  alcarcon 
la  dicha  caravela  pero  questo  testigo  no  oyo  decir  ni  vio  quienes  fuesen  losque 
se  querian  alcar  con  la  dicha  caravela  e  que  oyo  decir  este  testigo  a  la  sazon  a 
la  dicha  cente  que  avian  refiido  el  dicho  capitan  Sebastian  caboto  con  el  patron 
de  la  nao^de  la  trenidad  que  se  llamava  bautista  de  negron  sobre  la  trayda  de 
las  dichas  velas  y  leme." 

*  IX.  test.-  "  Dixo  que  lo  que  desta  pregunta  este  testigo  sabe  es  que  vio  to- 
mar  ciertos  testigos  de  ynformacion  contra  los  dichos  francisco  de  Rojas  y  mar- 
tin mendez  e  miguel  de  Rodas  no  sabe  este  testigo  porque  causa  ni  si  fue  bas- 
tante  ni  si  no  porque  este  testigo  no  vio  los  testigos  de  la  dicha  ynformacion  e 
no  sabe  otracosa." 

t  See  the  xviii  Interrogatory  of  the  proofs  of  Catharine  Vasquez,  and  the 
testimony  in  relation  to  it. 

t  Ay  otra  information  hecha  por  Sebastian  caboto  estandoen  las  naos  por  la 
qual  mando  prender  al  capitan  Rojas  e  a  martin  mendez  e  a  miguel  de  Rodas  e 
por  ella  funda  la  culpa  que  tenian  para  los  desterrar  ay  en  ella  ciertos  par- 


ARREST  OF  ROJAS  AND  OTHERS.  189 

The  date  of  the  year  and  month  informs  us  that  this  in- 
quiry does  not  relate  to  the  arrest  and  deposal  made  at  St. 
Catharine,  but  the  first  arrest  at  Pernambueo.  Iotdeed,  we 
know  that  they  left  there  the  29th  of  September  1526,  after 
staying  three  months  :  therefore  in  July  they  were  at  Per- 
nambueo. But  this  inquiry  was  called  up  anew  at  St. 
Catharine  when  the  conduct  of  these  officers  had  to  be  again 
investigated,  and  it  served  as  the  basis  of  the  severe  judg- 
ment given  against  them.  Since  at  Pernambueo  Cabot's 
severity  went  no  further  than  the  arrest  of  Rojas  and 
Mendez,  it  must  be  supposed  that  Rodas  had  not  greatly 
compromised  himself  at  that  time,  and  that  his  conduct 
grew  worse  in  the  sequel. 

The  mother  of  Mendez,  in  her  XIV  interrogatory,  also 
claims  damages  from  Cabot  for  the  losses  her  son  suffered  in 
his  property  from  not  being  allowed  to  be  present  when  every 
thing  they  could  save  was  taken  out  of  the  flag-ship  to  put 
into  the  galiot  :*  and  Rojas  in  the  19th  point  of  his  accusa- 
tion charges  Cabot  with  keeping  him  a  prisoner  for  many 
days  ;f  and  according  to  one  witness  Martin  Mendez  was  kept 
many  days  in  arrest.^:  The  arrest,  then,  must  have  been  some 
time  before  the  departure.  But  as  Rojas  himself  boasts  of  his 
zeal  and  care  for  the  sick  and  convalescent,  it  cannot  be  placed 
very  soon  after  the  arrival.  According  to  me,  it  must  have  been 
when,  recovering  from  the  first  alarm  created  by  the  sickness 
and  the  deaths,  the  most  of  the  convalescents  began  to  regain 
their  strength,  and  the  galiot  being  completed  they  were  pre- 
paring to  load  her.  Then  the  three  officers  were  arrested 
and  sent  under  guard  on  board  of  Gregory  Caro's  vessel. 


eceres  que  tomo  para  deternainar  en  In  que  sobrello  nvia  de  hacer  hizose  a 
dos  de  jullo  de  mill  e  quinientos  y  vente  y  seys  aiios  esta  hecha  svn  ynterro- 
gatorio. 

...  protesto  ...  ae  covrar  del  dicho  Sebastian  caboto  .  .  .  tada  la 
hazi%ida  que  en  la  nao  capitana  se  le  avia  perdido  por  no  estar  presente  en 
ella  ;  la  qual  el  salvara  como  otros  muchos  salvaron  la  suva  por  estar  pre- 
sentes .  .  .  .  " 

f  "  Le  torno  a  prender  y  tuvo  preso  muchos  dias." 

X  "Dixo  ....  quel  dicho  Martin  Mendez  despues  de  aver  estado  muchos  dias 
preso  en  la  nao  del  dicho  capitan  caro"  .  .  .  .  vi  test,  xi  Pregunta  de  la 
Probanca  de  Cataliua  Vasquez. 


190  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

Rojas  in  his  interrogatories  could  not  omit  mention  of  his 
second  arrest,  and  as  he  could  not  say  it  was  for  his  opposition 
to  the  changing  of  their  voyage,  for  he  had  given  that  before, 
he  says  he  was  arrested  for  his  great  care  of  and  interest  in  the 
sick,  and  because  he  took  great  pains  to  save  the  stores  of  the 
flag-ship.  His  zeal  in  those  matters  had  won  him  the  affec- 
tion and  gratitude  of  all,  at  which  Cabot  being  jealous  caused 
him  to  be  arrested  and  deposed,  the  only  way  in  his  power 
to  throw  odium  on  him.*  It  would  be  a  waste  of  words  for 
us  to  stop  to  take  up  and  discuss  this  new  charge;  let  us,  then, 
go  on.  During  their  confinement,  Rojas  and  Mendez  made  a 
great  noise,  protesting  their  innocence,  demanding  justice,  and 
trying  by  every  means  to  interest  their  companions  in  their 
favor.  But  their  companions  were  not  moved,  and  Cabot,  in- 
formed of  what  was  passing,  paid  no  attention  to  their  clamor,  f 
When  the  time  came  for  sailing,  he  sent  the  chief  constable 
of  the  fleet  to  the  Santa  Maria  del  Espinar  with  a  boat  to  take 
the  three  prisoners  and  leave  them  on  the  island  of  Patos. 
Informed  of  the  fate  that  awaited  them,  the  three  cried 
loudly  and  protested  that  they  were  innocent  and  were  treated 
with  violence  solely  out  of  the  captain's  enmity  towards  them; 
but  their  clamors  were  dispersed  by  the  wind,  and  the  expedi- 
tion put  out  to  sea  leaving  them  on  that  island.^ 

*  See  his  17,18,  and  19  Interrogatories". . .  .por  razon  destas  bona*  obras  que 
hazia  ala  gente  como  por  aver  sydo  cabsa  que  las  cosas  de  la  nao  perdida 
se  salvasen  e  visto  que  toda  la  gente  por  Razon  dello  le  tenia  buena  voluntad 
de  enbidia  que  al  dicho  Francisco  de  Rojas  tuvo  se  le  acresento  y  doblo  el 

,.  i        i     «  j  n„  Qi  *0nia  Dor  rrazon  de  a  dicba  inbidia  y  en- 

odio  y  mala  voluntad  que  con  el  tenia pui  no*  j 

.j       -i.  i  *  ™v^o  mr  *>i  HipbocaDitan  aver  dicbo  ni  hecno  cosa 

emystad  capital. ...  syntener  cabsa ny  ei aienu wfim,u 

porque  le  torno  a  prender..."  No.  18. 

•  o  *     *^.  .  i.      tt  T.,f   ▼;   vii  -jriii   xiv,  xv.—  Int.  ofFrancis 
t  See  proofs  of  Ca talma  Vasquez.—  Int.  xi,  xn,  xw,  -aav,  * 

de  Rojas,  xix.— App.  xxxiv  and  xxxv.  . 

%  "estando  la  gente  ya  embarcada  para  partir  dela  vaya  delos  patos.  tiizosa- 
car...y  llebarlos  a  dejar  en  aquella  ysla. . .  ."De Rojas  Interrogatory,  JNo.  ^U 

"Este  testigo  vio  como  el  alguazil  mayor  de  la  dicba  armada  llego  a  la  dicba 

nao  del  dicho  capitan  caro e  llamo  a  los  dicbos  martin  mendez  etc....    vm 

test,  xvi  Pregunta  de  la  Probanca  de  Catalina  Vasquez  :  The  other  witnesses 
repeat  the  same  thing. 

"Dixoqueste  testigo  vio  como.. ..el  dicho  alguazil  los  llevo  a  tierra  e  que 
los  dichos  martin  mendez  e  capitan  Rojas  yvan  dando  bozes  quexandose  del 
dicho  capitan  general  demandando  a  dios  justicia....etc."  ix  test,  xvi  Pregunta 
....also  other  witnesses.  See  likewise  xviii  Pregunta. 


I 
THE  THREE  OFFICERS  LEFT  AT  PALOS.  191 

Rojas  in  the  22nd  point  of  his  accusation  and  the  mother  of 
Mendez  in  her  XVII  interrogatory,  assert  that  Cabot  in  aban- 
doning them  left  them  slaves  to  a  rich  Indian  of  that  place,  and 
Rojas  says  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  island  were  cannibals  who 
had  already  eaten  many  Christians,  and  Cabot's  hope  in  aban- 
doning them  was  that  they  should  be  treated  in  the  same  way.* 
The  impudence  of  this  assertion  is  beyond  measure.  In  the  first 
place  it  is  well  to  mention  that  neither  of  the  two  witnesses 
called  by  Vasquez  knows  any  thing  about  it.  The  first  has  seen 
the  three  prisoners  delivered  to  one  of  the  principal  inhab- 
itants of  the  island;  the  other  has  heard  say  that  Cabot  recom- 
mended them  to  two  of  the  principal  Indians  of  the  place ; 
they  know  no  more.f 

Then  as  to  the  character  of  the  place,  the  calumny  of  Rojas 
is  answered  by  the  fifteen  Christians  of  Loaysa's  fleet  found 
there  and  two  of  Solis's  expedition,  concerning  whom  neither 
Rojas  nor  anybody  else  ever  said  that  they  were  subjected  to  ill- 
treatment  or  violence  on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  those 
islands.  On  the  contrary  it  appears  that  Henry  Montez  had 
acquired  a  certain  authority  over  them,  for  on  his  invitation 
they  willingly  helped  Cabot's  men  to  build  the  galiot.  He 
is  answered  by  Diego  Garcia,  the  envious  adversary  of  Se- 
bastian Cabot  who  sought  every  opportunity  of  backbiting  and 

*  XVII  Pregunta  de  la  Probanda  de  Catalina  Vasquez  :  — "  Yten  si  saben  et 
cetera  que  despues  quel  dicho  capitan  Sebastian  caboto  inando  hechar  y 
hecho  a  los  dichos  martin  mendez  e  francisco  de  Rojas  en  la  dicha  ysla  nom- 
brada  santa  catalina  los  dio  por  esclavos  a  un  yndio  mayoral  de  aquella  tierra 
que  se  llama  topadera  diziendo  ay  te  dexo  estos  cristianos  para  que  te  aga 
cunas  e  anzuelas...." 

No.  22  dell'  Interrogator^  del  capitan  Francisco  Rojas: — "Iten  si.  saben  etc. 
que  la  gente  de  aquella  tierra  comen  carne  humana  y  an  muerto  y  comido  en 
ella  muchos  cristianos  y  para  que  asy  hiziese  aldicbo  capitan  lo  dejo  en  la  dicha 
ysla  el  dicho  Sebastian  caboto  y  sobre  esto  le  dejo  por  esclavo  de  un  indio 
principal  de  aquella  tierra...." 

t  VI  Witness:  "dixo  que  vio  quedar  a  los  dichos....  en  poder  del  dicho 
tapavara  (the  rich  Indian)  pero  que  lo  demas  contenido  en  la  dicha  pregunta 
este  testigo  no  lo  sabe  ni  lo  oyo  dezir." 

The  ix  witness  :  " dixo  queste  testigo  oyo  dezir  publicamente que  al 

tiempo  que  dicho  Sebastian  caboto  avia  mandato  dexar  a  los  dichos les 

avia  dexado  encomendados  a  dos  yndios  mayorales  de  aquella  ysla  e  que  lo 
demas  contenido  en  la  dicha  pregunta  que  no  lo  sabe." 


192  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

setting  him  in  a  bad  light,  and  who  says  of  the  inhabitants  of 
that  island  :  u  They  are  a  good  race  of  people,  who  treat 
Christians  well,  and  gave  him  a  quantity  of  food,  because  they 
were  good  Indians  ;"*  and  after  a  few  lines  more,  he  adds  that 
"  they  were  the  best  people  in  that  region,  "f  In  fine,  Rojas 
belies  his  own  calumny  by  his  experience  in  remaining  a  long 
time  among  those  Indians,  and  returning  safe  and  sound  to 
Spain,  and  if  Mendez  and  Rodas  lost  their  life  there,  it  was 
not  the  Indians  that  took  it,  but  Rojas  himself  was  the  cause 
of  their  sad  and  premature  death,  as  we  shall  see  further  on. 

Then,  as  to  the  fact  of  leaving  them  as  slaves  to  an  Indian, 
here  is  the  interrogatory  to  which  Cabot  produced  ten  wit- 
nesses. "Whether  they  know  that  when  they  left  Francis  de 
Rojas,  Martin  Mendez,  and  Michael  de  Rodas  at  the  said  island 
of  St.  Catharine,  the  said  Sebastian  Cabot  delivered  to  them 
all  their  property  and  clothing,  and  two  butts  of  wine,  and 
gunpowder,  and  fire-locks,  and  many  other  things  and  recom- 
mended strongly  to  the  principal  Indians  of  the  place  to  treat 
them  well."  J 

The  first  witness  says  as  to  the  delivery  of  their  property 
and  the  other  things  named  in  the  interrogatory,  that  with 
his  own  eyes  he  saw  it  done  :  he  has  no  personal  knowledge 
about  the  recommendation,  but  knows  that  it  was  generally  re- 
ported in  the  fleet. §     The  second  witness  testifies  to  both;  the 


•  " e  andando  en  el  camino  allegamos  a  un  rio  que  se  llama  el  Rio 

delos  Patos  questa  a  veynte  e  syete  grados  que  ay  una  buena  generacion  que 
hace  muy  buena  obra  a  los  cristianos  e  llamanse  los  carriores,  e  alii  nos 
dieron  mucbas  vituallas  que  llama  myllo  e  harina  de  mandioco  e  mucbas  cala- 
baras  e  mucbos  patos  e  otros  mucbos  mantenimientos  porque  beran  buenos 
yndios,"  Belacion  y  derrotero  de  Diego  Garcia. 

f  "  ....  hera  .  .  .  .mas  buena  gente  que  en  aquellas  partes."  lb. 

X  "Yten  si  saben  que  quandoquedaron  en  la  dicba  ysla  de  santa  catalina  los 
dicbos  francisco  de  Rojas  e  martin  mendez  e  miguel  de  Rodas  el  dicbo  Sebastian 
caboto  les  entrego  todo  su  rescate  e  ropa  y  dos  botas  de  vino  y  cierta  polvora 
de  lombarda  y  escopetas  y  otras  mucbas  cosas  y  que  los  encomendo  mucbo  a 
los  yndios  mayorales  de  la  tierra  que  les  biziesen  buen  tratamiento. ..."  xxiv 
Pregunta  de  la  Probanda  de  Caboto. 

§  "Dixo  que  la  sabe  como  en  ella  se  contiene  en  quanto  a  lo  que  toca  a  entre- 

garles lo  contenido  en  la  pregunta  porque  se  lo  vio  entregar  este  testigo  a 

los  susodicbos  estando  en  tierra  e  que  en  lo  que  toco  al  encomendalles  a  los 


THE  SUPPLIES  LEFT  WITH  THEM.  193 

fourth  and  seventh  by  hearsay  ;  *  the  third  and  fifth  as  eye- 
witnesses, f  The  sixth  confirms  both  on  hearsay,  with  the 
addition  that  when  it  was  impossible  to  get  from  the  ship 
some  wine  that  belonged  to  Rojas,  the  latter  ordered  it  di- 
vided among  his  servants  ;  and  the  servants  afterwards  com- 
plained about  that  wine  to  Michael  Rifos,  Cabot's  Lieuten- 
ant :  and  that  besides  the  things  delivered  to  them  the  three 
deposed  officers  sent  to  ask  for  more,  and  had  them.J  The 
ninth,  an  eye-witness,  remembers  the  delivery  and  recom- 
mendation, and  the  interpreter  who  explained  to  the  Indians 
Cabot's  recommendation  and  his  promise  to  them  that  on  his 
return  he  would  stop  there  and  if  he  found  they  had  treated 
them  well  he  would  make  them  many  presents.§  The  tenth 
saw  the  delivery  of  all  their  things  to  the  three  officers,  and 
relates  that  he  heard  that  as  they  did  not  like  the  wine 
of  one  cask  they  had  on  shore,  Cabot  ordered  another  of  good 
quality  to  be  given  them  in  place  of  it.|| 

The  reader  must  not  think  I  have  stopped  unnecessarily  to 

dichos  yudios  que  no  lo  vio  este  testigo  pero  que  lo  oyo  decir  asy  a  la  gente  de 
la  diclia  armada." 

*  II.— "Dixo  que  oyo  dezir  lo  contenido  en  hi  diclia  pregunta  publicamente  a 
la  gente  de  hi  diclia  armada. — iv  id.  vii  id. 

t  HI.  —  "Dixo  que  la  sabe  como  en  ella  se  contiene  porque  lo  vio  asy  pasar 

"Dixe  que  la  sabe  como  en  ella  se  contiene  porque  lo  vio  asy  .  .  ." 

X  "Dixo  que  oyo  dezir  .  .  .  quel  dieho  capitan  Sebastian  caboto  avia  dado  a 
los  dichos  capitan  Rojas  e  martin  mendez  e  mignel  de  Rodas  todos  sus  rescates 
e  ropas  syno  fuera  cierto  bidro  y  cierto  vino  que  no  se  podia  sacar  de  la  nao 
e  que  por  cierto  bidro  de  aquello  vino  e  otras  cosas  que  avian  quedado  avia 

dicho  el  dicho  capitan  Rojas  que  se  diesen  a  sus  criados e  que  despues  le 

parescio  que  les  vio  andar  en  pleyto  a  los  criados  del  dicho  capitan  Rojas  con 
miquel  Rifos  teniente  del  dicho  sebasthm  caboto. .  .  .  e  que  ansimismo  oyo  de- 
cir a  la  diclia  gente  que  ....  caboto  los  avia  encomendado  a  los  yndios  que 
los  tratasen  bien." 

§  "  Dixo  que  sabe  e  vio  .  .  .  .  que  les  dexo  ....  sus  rescates  .  .  .  .  y  sus 
caxas  con  todo  lo  que  dentro  tenian  ....  que  ansi  mismo  vio  que  los  encom- 
endo  a  los  yndios  principales  de  la  dicha  ysla  por  una  lengua  que  estava  alii 
para  que  se  lo  dixese  a  los  dichos  yudios  para  que  los  tratasen  bien  y  les  diede 
lo  que  oviesen  menester  por  quel  bolveria  por  alii  y  les  daria  muchas  dadivas." 

||  "  Dixo  que  ....  vio  como  ....  caboto  mando  que  diesen  ....  todo  lo 
que  tenian  en  las  dichas  naos  que  fuese  sugo  .  .  .  .  e  que  oyo  decir  ....  que 
una  bota  de  vino  que  tenia  en  tien :»  non  lima  muy  buen  vino  ....  caboto 
mando  que  les  llevasen  otra  bota  de  vino." 

13 


1(J4  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

collect  all  this  evidence  ;  for  it  will  not  be  idle  to  remember  it 
when  the  tempest  now  gathering  over  Cabot's  head  bursts 
upon  him. 

It  will  be  useful  likewise  to  see  how  Herrera,  the  classic 
historian  of  Spanish  navigation,  has  presented  to  his  readers 
the  account  of  these  events;  we  have  already  quoted  in  its  place 
the  passage  where  rapidly  and  with  a  vagueness  which  to 
Biddle  seems  indicative  of  falsehood,  he  relates  the  voyage 
from  the  coast  of  Spain  to  the  isle  of  Patos.*  Let  us  resume 
his  narrative  at  that  point  and  follow  it.  Herrera  says 
then  :  "The  provisions  ran  short  from  improper  issue  .... 
and  so  he  came  to  the  island  of  Patos  in  great  famine. 
He  was  well  received  by  the  Indians  who  gave  him  a  great 
quantity  of  victuals  with  which  he  supplied  the  ships,  al- 
though he  repaid  them  ill,  for  he  took  four  sons  of  the  princi- 
pal men.  He  passed  on  till  he  entered  the  river  which  they 
called  then  De  Solis,  and  is  now  La  Plata,  leaving  on  an  un- 
inhabited island  the  General's  Lieutenant,  Martin  Mendez, 
Captain  Francis  de  Rojas,  and  Michael  de  Rodas  ;  because 
he  not  only  had  ill-will  towards  them,  but  they  had  freely 
found  fault  with  his  government  ;  and  in  fact  he  did  not  go 
to  the  Spice  Islands,  because  he  had  not  provisions,  and  the 
men  would  not  follow  him  as  they  feared  to  be  badly  man- 
aged in  the  Strait  (of  Magellan),  "f 

Let  us  put  aside  the  capture  of  the  four  young  Indians, 
which  we  will  examine  hereafter,  and  first  look  into  the 
rest.  Herrera  gives  as  the  cause  of  the  provisions  run- 
ning  short   that    they   had    been  improperly  issued.     But 


*  See  ch.  xvi. 

f  "  .  . .  .  llego  a  la  isla  de  Patos,  con  mucha  hambre.  Y  fue  bien  recebido  de 
los  Jndios,  que  le  dieron  mucha  victualla,  con  que  abastecio  los  navios, 
aunque  se  lo  pago  mal  porque  tomo  quatro  hijos  de  los  hombres  mas 
principals.  Passo  adelante,  hasta  entrar  en  el  rio,  que  entonces  Uaraavan  de 
Solis,  y  aora  de  la  Plata,  dexando  en  una  isla  despoblada  al  Teniente  de 
General,  Martin  Mendez,  al  Capitan  Francisco  de  Rojaa,  y  a  Miguel  de  Rodas  , 
porque  demas  que  les  tenia  mala  voluntad,  con  libertad  reprehendian  sa  go- 
vierno  :  y  en  efeto  no  passo  a  la  Especeria  ;  porque  ni  lleva  vitualla,  ni  la  gente 
It;  quiso  seguir  temiendo  de  ser  mal  governada  en  el  estrecho." — Herrera,  iii, 
Jib.  x,  cap.  i. 


195 

were  they  not  unexpectedly  blockaded  by  the  fury  of  the 
sea  at  Pernambuco  for  three  months  ?  Herrera  says  not 
a  word  about  that.  And  the  four  months  or  thereabouts 
that  they  were  detained  at  the  Bay  of  St.  Catharine  by 
sickness  and  the  necessity  of  providing  themselves  with 
a  galiot  ?  Of  this  Herrera  says  nothing.  Thus  the  period 
of  seven  months  and  over  must  have  made  some  decrease 
in  their  stock  of  provisions  !  And  the  loss  of  the  flag- 
ship ?  Herrera  continues  dumb  ;  for  him  the  shortness  of 
food  was  owing  to  improper  issue  :  where,  then,  when, 
how  they  were  improperly  issued  he  does  not  say,  and 
has  not  a  word  more  on  the  matter. 

Let  us  come  to  the  second  point. 

"He  passed  on,  leaving  on  an  uninhabited  island  Mendez, 
Rojas,and  Rodas,  because  he  not  only  had  ill-will  towards  them 
but  they  had  freely  found  fault  with  his  government,"  Here 
falsehood  is  accompanied  with  the  purest  hypocrisy.  First,  the 
historian  says  the  inhabitants  of  Patos  supplied  Cabot  with 
food,  so  that  he  was  able  to  re-victual  the  ships  ;  consequently 
the  island  was  inhabited,  and  with  good  people.  Then  he  says 
Cabot  left  the  three  officers  on  an  uninhabited  island.  But  if 
they  were  left  at  Patos,  how  can  he  say  it  was  uninhabited  ? 
One  would  think  the  historian  saw  the  contradiction  and  to 
hide  it,  after  mentioning  Patos,  instead  of  saying  "  here  he  left 
the  three  officers,"  he  uses  the  general  term,  island,  with  the 
indefinite  article  so  that  the  reader  is  naturally  led  to  suppose 
that  it  was  some  other  place,  and  cannot  but  condemn  Cabot's 
cruelty,  and  pity  the  three  unfortunates. 

But  the  hardest  part  is  the  conclusion  of  the  account,  from 
which  I  suspect  that  Herrera  had  no  knowledge  of  the  suit 
afterwards  brought  against  Cabot,  and  that  his  account  is  not 
to  be  attributed  to  bad  faith,  but  to  the  falsehood  of  the  docu- 
ments he  had  at  hand.  In  that  suit  Catharine  Vasquez, 
mother  of  Mendez,  in  her  XX  interrogatory,  and  Rojas  in 
his  VII,  VIII,  IX,  and  XII  interrogatories  accuse  Cabot  of 
wanting  to  give  up  the  voyage  to  the  Moluccas  for  the  Plata 
in  spite  of  the  remonstrance  of  his  Lieutenant  Mendez  and  of 
Captain  de  Rojas.    Rqjas,  in  his  9th  and  10th  points  accuses 


196  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

Cabot  of  having  first  tried  to  have  him  killed  and  then  ar- 
rested him  because  he  opposed  his  wish  to  stop  the  expedition 
at  the  Plata  ;  and  again,  in  the  13th  and  14th,  accuses  him 
of  refusing,  in  consequence  of  his  unfortunate  wish  to  stop  at 
the  Plata,  to  go  as  Rojas  wanted  to  go  to  the  aid  of  Loaysa's 
ships,  which  according  to  some,  were  lost  in  the  Strait  of  Ma- 
gellan ;  and  Catharine  Vasquez  for  her  son  Mendez  in  her 
XXIV  and  XXV  interrogatories,  and  Rojas  in  his  XXV,  call 
on  Cabot  to  answer  for  the  damages  they  suil'ered  by  his  not 
continuing  the  voyage  to  the  Moluccas.  And  here  Herrera,  after 
all  these  documents,  after  the  public  trial  concerning  them, 
comes  forward  to  say  that  Cabot  did  not  proceed  to  the  Moluc- 
cas because  his  men  would  not  follow  him,  and  they  would  not 
follow  him  because  they  feared  he  was  not  able  to  manage  the 
fleet  in  the  strait  ! 

When  they  left  the  Bay  of  St.  Catharine  they  were  still  nearly 
all  sick,  *  but  it  seemed  prudent  to  escape  as  soon  as  might  be 
from  a  climate  which  had  been  so  severe  on  their  bodies  weak- 
ened by  fatigue  and  want  of  food.  A  change  of  air  was 
judged  to  be  the  best  means  of  restoring  their  strength.  But 
on  putting  to  sea  so  few  were  found  fit  for  any  work,  and 
even  these  so  weak,  that  they  were  hardly  able  to  manage  the 
vessels,  f 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Exploration  of  the  River  La  Plata. 

Arriving  at  the  mouth  of  the  Plata,  before  proceeding  fur- 
ther, we  must  remind  the  reader  how  far  the  knowledge  of  the 
region  Cabot  stopped  to  explore,  had  then  extended. 

The  first  expedition  which  the  Spaniards  sent  to  the  south- 

*  "Yten  si  saben  que  quando  se  enbarco  la  dicha  gente,  que  casi  toda  ella  es- 
tava  doliente  .  .  .  ."  Int.  xx  of  Cabot's  proofs.  The  witnesses  depose  unani- 
mously in  accordance  with  the  Interrogatory. 

f  "....  no  podiau  los  marineros  marcar  las  naos  a  causa  de  yr  tan  dolientes  y 
flacos."ix  witness  to  the  same  Interrogatory. 


THE  PLATA  DISCOVERED  BY  SOLIS.  197 

ern  seas  of  America,  in  search  of  a  passage  to  the  eastern 
countries  of  Asia,  was  in  1508,  and  was  led  by  John  Diaz  de 
Solis  and  Vincent  Yaiies  Pinzon,  the  latter  a  former  captain 
of  one  of  Christopher  Columbus's  ships  on  the  discovery  of 
the  New  World.  They  went  as  far  as  the  40th  degree  of  South 
Latitude,  but  did  not  discover  the  great  estuary  into  which  the 
River  La  Plata  empties.  Seven  years  later,  in  1515,  Diaz  de 
Solis  returned  alone  to  the  same  region,  and  to  make  sure  of 
his  search  he  began  to  hug  the  coast  from  Cape  St.  Augustine 
in  Brazil,  and  went  on  step  by  step  taking  note  of  every  bay 
and  harbor  that  he  came  to.  In  this  examination  he  discov- 
ered the  great  river  which  was  afterwards  named  Rio  de  la 
Plata.  Its  numerous  sand  banks  and  rocks  prevented  him 
from  venturing  in  with  his  vessels,  but  he  thought  the  dis- 
covery too  important  to  leave  altogether  unexplored  :  and  so 
taking  his  long-boat  he  began  to  ascend  along  the  west  bank. 
He  had  not  proceeded  far  before  he  saw  groups  of  Indians  on 
shore.  Not  being  able  to  hold  any  communication  with  them 
in  words,  a  mute  conversation  was  begun  between  the  two  sides 
by  signs,  and  Solis  thought  the  Indians  invited  him  to  land  ; 
and  as  he  saw  them  lay  on  the  ground  near  their  feet  some- 
thing they  held  in  their  hands,  he  concluded  they  meant  to 
say  that  they  not  only  invited  him  to  land,  but  offered  him 
every  thing  they  had.  Trusting  his  interpretations  of  those 
deceitful  signs,  he  ventured  on  shore,  and  not  to  excite  sus- 
picion, wishing,  it  is  said,  to  capture  some  of  the  natives  to 
take  to  Spain  as  specimens,  he  landed  poorly  armed  and  with 
few  men.  This  first  act  of  imprudence  was  followed  by  a 
greater,  when  seeing  the  savages  slowly  retreating  among  the 
tall  trees  of  a  neighboring  forest,  he  followed  them  almost 
alone.  He  had  hardly  entered  the  woods  when  a  shower  of 
arrows  was  shot  from  concealed  enemies,  and  before  he  had 
time  to  lay  his  hand  on  his  arms,  he  and  all  with  him  fell 
dead.  Then  the  hidden  savages  burst  forth,  leaping  and  yell- 
ing with  delight,  fell  upon  them  and  stripped  them,  and  then 
dragging  their  bodies  to  a  great  fire  outside  of  the  woods, 
roasted  them  at  it,  and  in  sight  of  the  others  who,  beside 
themselves  with    grief  and  fear,  witnessed    from    the    boat, 


198  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

the  horrid  scene,  they  devoured  them  with  noisy  pleasure. 
When  the  horrible  story  was  told  on  the  ships,  there  was  a 
discussion  what  should  be  done,  and  it  was  decided  to  return 
to  Spain.* 

Cabot  on  entering  this  estuary  stopped  at  a  small  isl- 
and called  S.  Lazaro,  and  remained  there  for  a  month 
to  give  his  men  time  to  recover  somewhat  from  their  loss 
of  strength.  In  the  meanwhile  they  were  seeking  for 
information  about  the  place,  and  they  hailed  with  joy 
the  sight  of  a  Spaniard,  one  Francis  del  Puerto,  who  had 
taken  part  in  Solis's  expedition,  and  remaining  there  as 
a  slave  after  the  sad  end  of  the  leader,  had  lived  through 
humiliations  and  sufferings  beyond  description.  He  not 
only  confirmed  the  tale  of  the  great  wealth  of  that  re- 
gion, but  even  pointed  out  the  way  to  reach  it.  Encouraged 
by  his  words,  they  took  him  to  the  ships  as  guide  on 
their  voyage,  and  on  May  6,  1527,  they  left  S.  Lazaro  to 
go  up  the  river,  f  But  they  went  away  sick  at  heart  on 
account  of  those  they  left  dead  at  S.  Lazaro.  The  voy- 
age from  the  Bay  of  St.  Catharine  to  this  island  was  only  a 
few  days,  %  but  the  labor  of  that  short  navigation  was 
enough  to  cause  the  relapse  of  the  convalescents,  some  of 


*  "  Lo  mataron,  i  comieron  con  todos  los  Espanoles  que  saco,  i  aun  quebra- 
ron  el  batel.  Los  otros  que  de  los  navios  miraban  alcaron  anclas  i  velas,  sin 
osar  tomar  venganca  de  la  muerte  de  su  Capitan."    Gomara,  cap.  lxxxix. 

Herrera,  Dec.  ii,  lib.  i,  cap.  vii. 

Pietro  Martire  d'Anghiera,  Dec.  iii,  cap.  x. 

f  "  Senal a  la  magnitudo  del  rio  y  cuenta  los  muchos  trabaios  que  pasaron 
hasta  llegar  a  un  puerto  que  llamaron  de  S.  Lazaro,  donde  se  detubieron  un  mes 
para  informarse  de  la  tierra.  Un  tal  Francisco  del  Puerto,  cautivo  desde  la 
derrota  de  Solis,  les  enter6  de  la  mucha  riqueza  del  pais  y  del  camino  que  de- 
ben  seguir  para  dar  con  la  referida  sierra.  Con  esto  el  Capitan  determino 
salir  de  alii  el  6  de  Mayo."     From  the  narrative  of  Ramirez,   App.  xxxvii. 

"  .  .  .  .  e  se  fueron  el  Rio  arriba  por  la  gran  noticia  que  tenia  un  ombre  que 
hallaron  en  el  dicho  Rio  de  Solis  que  dezia  que  aviapor  el  Rio  arriba  grand 
fama  que  avia  mucho  oro  y  plata." 

Answer  to  the  xx  Int.  of  Cabot's  proofs. 

X  "Salieron  deste  puerto  que  llamaron  St.  Catalina  el  15  de  Febrero  de  1527 
lleirando  despues  de  seis  dias  a  St.  Maria  punta  a  la  desembocadura  del  Rio  de 
Solis."  Ramirez,  ib. 


STAY  AT  S.  LAZARO.  199 

whom  died  on  the  way  ;*  and  others  after  arriving  at  S. 
Lazaro.  f  But  not  all  were  able  to  depart  :  the  most  of  them, 
from  sickness  or  loss  of  strength,  were  unable  to  stand 
another  voyage,  and  had  to  be  left  on  the  island  for  further 
care  and  rest ;  for  which  reason  they  gave  the  island  now 
used  as  an  infirmary,  the  name  of  the  well-known  saint 
in  the  Gospel.  But  even  those  who  went,  between  the  sick- 
ness and  famine  they  had  gone  through,  were  so  sickly 
and  weak  that  on  sailing  they  had  not  enough  strength 
to  hoist  two  anchors  out  of  the  water,  with  their  stocks 
entangled  in  the  aquatic  plants  of  the  river.  + 

Cabot's  course  up  the  Plata  is  all  involved  in  obscurity, 
and  the  few  intimations  the  authors  here  and  there  give  us 
of  his  voyage  do  not  always  serve  to  direct  our  steps,  but  some- 
times by  their  mutual  contradictions,  rather  increase  our 
embarrassment.  I  will  try  my  best  to  advance  on  their 
dark  and  dangerous  road  ;  and  if  at  times  the  reader  shall 
not  find  me  exactly  collecting  these  intimations  and 
putting  them  together  in  the  order  he  would  like,  I  beg 
him  beforehand  to  mitigate  the  rigor  of  his  judgment  by 
the  thought  of  the  difficulty  the  matter  presents. 

Herrera  says  nothing  of  the  island  of  S.  Lazaro,  and 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Plata  transports  us  directly  to  the  isl- 
and of  San  Gabriel,  thirty  miles  further  up.  Here  Cabot 
left  the  ships  and  began  the  ascent  of  the  river  in  long-boats.§ 
The  information  received  from  the  Indians  showed  the  Para- 

*  "despues  yendo  por  la  mar,  algunos  dellos  que  yvan  enferraos  murieron." 
x  Witness  to  the  x  Int.  of  Cabot's  proofs. 

f "  Se  murieron  en  el  dicho  Rio  muchos  e  que  se  fueron  a  una  ysla  que  se  dize 
san  lazaro  e  que  alii  estovieron  cieitos  dias  e  que  ansymismo  se  murio  alii 
mucha  gente."    Answers  to  xx  Int.  of  Cabot's  proofs. 

Three  other  witnesses  repeat  the  same  thing. 

X  "  Yten  si  saben  que  por  falta  de  gente  que  como  dicho  estava  doliente 
se  dexaron  dos  anclas  y  dos  cubos  de  la  nao  santa  maria  del  espinar  por  los 
escobenes  en  el  dicho  Rio  de  Solis  porque  la  gente  estava  muy  doliente  y  no 
tenian  fuerca  para  travajar  ni  sacar  las  dichas  auclas."  xx  Int.  of  Cabot's 
proofs.    All  the  witnesses  answer  in  the  affirmative. 

§  "Metiose  en  el  Rio  de  la  Plata,  subio  descubriendo  por  el,  y  a  poco  mas 
de  treynta  leguas  dio  en  unaisla  que  llamo  San  Gabriel."  Herrera,  Dec.  iii,  lib. 
ix,  cap.  3. 


200  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

guay  as  the  shortest  course  to  the  gold  mountains.46  He  con- 
tinued therefore  the  ascent  towards  the  Paraguay,  and  not  more 
than  seven  leagues  beyond  San  Gabriel  he  found  on  his  right 
an  affluent  with  good  depth  of  water  at  its  mouth.  He  ap- 
proached it  with  the  design  of  stopping  there,  but  the  natives, 
aware  of  his  intention,  quickly  gathered  in  a  great  multitude 
and  prepared  to  oppose  him.  The  small  number  of  the  Span- 
iards and  their  extreme  weakness  would  have  made  them 
avoid  the  labor  and  danger  of  an  encounter.  But  Cabot 
quickly  perceived  that  prudence  at  this  moment  would  have 
been  taken  for  fear;  they  would  have  been  too  elated,  and 
their  savage  minds  have  acquired  too  much  confidence  for  new 
attacks  ;  and  a  sudden  check  on  their  first  attempt  would  have 
produced  a  very  bad  effect  on  the  Spaniards  already  disheart- 
ened and  weakened  by  so  many  causes.  He  therefore  ordered 
an  immediate  onset. f  The  brave  savages  fought  valiantly, 
but  their  valor  had  to  yield  to  the  skill  and  weapons  of  the 
Spaniards.  One  particular  related  by  the  historian  Gomara 
shows  the  fierce  mirth  of  the  savages.  In  the  battle  they  had 
killed  two  Spaniards,  and  might  have  carried  them  off  to  eat 
them  as  they  were  accustomed  to  do  with  their  enemies  ;  but 
they  would  not,  saying  scornfully  that  these  were  soldiers,  and 
they  had  learned  from  Solis  and  his  companions,  what  kind  of 
meat  they  made.J  After  driving  back  the  Indians  they  se- 
cured the  place  with  a  small  fort  to  which  they  gave  the  name 
of  San  Salvador.  § 

The  vicissitudes  of  the  voyage  from  the  island  of  S.  Lazaro 

*  "Oy  como  segun  informacion  de  los  mismos  indios  el  camino  mas  breve 
para  ir  a  la  sierra  era  eutrar  por  el  Paraguay."   Ramirez,  App.  xxxvii. 

f"The  natives  bad  collected  and  made  a  very  formidable  sbow  of  resistance, 
but  Cabot  vvitbotit  respect  of  peril,  thought  best  to  expugne  it  by  one  meanes 
or  otber,  wherein  his  boldness  tooke  good  effect  as  oftentymes  chaunceth 
in  irreataffayres."  Eden,  fol.  316. 

f'En  el  puerto  de  S.  Salvador  ....  le  mataron  los  Indios  dos  Espanoles  i 
no  los  quisieron  comer  diciendo  que  eran  soldados  que  ia  los  havian  probado 
en  Solis  i  sus  companeros."    Gomara,  cap.  lxxxix. 

^"Surgia  alii,  y  con  los  bateles  siete  legtias  mas  arriba  descubrio  un  rio,  que 
11  uno  San  Salvador,  muy  hondable,  y  seguro  puerto  pari  las  naos,  liazia  la 
misma  costa  del  Brasil,  adonde  metio  su  armada  ....  Levauto  una  fortaleza 
.  .  ."  Herrera,  Dec.  iii,  lib.  ix,  cap   3. 


HE  ASCENDS  LA  PLATA.  201 

to  this  place  are  not  known,  but  they  could  not  have 
been  few,  nor  slight.  Ramirez  mentions  them  in  a  few,  but 
significant  words  :  "  Both  they  and  the  others  underwent 
great  trouble  and  hunger."  The  others,  to  whom  he  refers,  are 
the  sick  left  at  S.  Lazaro.  As  soon  as  Cabot  had  got  his 
little  fort  of  San  Salvador  ready,  he  sent  the  galiot  to 
S.  Lazaro  to  fetch  the  sick,  who  leaving  the  island  on  Au- 
gust 25,  1527,  reached  the  fort  of  San  Salvador  on  the  28th.  * 
Here  they  all  remained  together  till  the  end  of  the  year 
to  regain  their  health  and  strength.  But  for  many  their 
rest  came  too  late,  and  the  fort  of  San  Salvador  was  also 
afflicted  with  many  deaths.  Cabot,  in  his  defense,  mentions 
that  he  was  obliged  to  remain  on  the  Parana  more  than 
half-a-year  to  give  the  sick  and  convalescents  time  to  re- 
cover, but  does  not  say  where  or  when  this  Avas.f  From 
the  indications  furnished  by  Ramirez  there  can  be  no  doubt  it 
was  at  this  time  at  Fort  San  Salvador.  Hither  were  trans- 
ported the  sick  and  convalescent  from  S.  Lazaro  ;  and 
the  state  of  those  who  came  with  the  ships  is  shown 
by  their  abandoning  two  anchors  at  that  island  from  in- 
ability to  weigh  them.  This  was  the  time  when  the  general 
condition  of  the  men  made  it  necessary  to  take  a  rest.  It  al- 
so agrees  with  the  calculation  of  time.  We  have  seen  that  the 
galiot  sent  to  S.  Lazaro  to  fetch  the  sick  made  the  passage 
from  that  island  to  San  Salvador  in  three  days.  Cabot  must 
have  taken  a  little  longer,  for  the  galiot  went  over  an  explored 
and  safe  course,  whereas  he  was  making  the  voyage  for  the  first 
lime,  and  therefore  had  to  move  with  caution,  and  slowly,  on 
an  unknown  way.  But,  as  the  passage  was  short,  the  difference 
cannot  have  been  great.  Consequently,  as  he  left  S.  Lazaro 
on  the  6th  of  May,  we  ran  not  be  far  out  in    thinking  he 


*  ''  Unos  y  otros padecen  muclios  trabajos  y  bambres,  liasta  que  el  general 
mando  la  galeota  para  conducir  la  gente  y  azienda  de  S.  Lazaro,  de  donde 
salieron  el  25  de  Agosto  para  llegar  el  28  al  nuevo  sitio  desde  el  general  habia 
hecho  asiento  y  una  fortaleza  para  la  defensa."  Rnmirez.,  App.  xxxvii. 

f  "  Yten  si  saben  questava  la  dicba  gente  doliente  en  el  Rio  de  Parana, 
que  entra  en  el  dicho  Rio  de  solis  mas  de  medio  afio  convaleciendo  de  la 
dolencia  que  avian  tenido  en  queen  este  comedio  murieron  mucbos  dellos." 
xxii  Int.  of  Cabot's  proofs. 


202  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

reached  San  Salvador  in  the  second  half  of  May.  Then  as 
the  first  stop  recorded  after  San  Salvador  is  New-Year's 
Island,  where  he  arrived  on  the  first  day  of  1528,  *  we  have 
from  his  arrival  at  San  Salvador  till  that  at  New- Year's 
seven  months.  Subtract  from  this  the  time  spent  in  as- 
cending the  Parana  from  San  Salvador  to  New- Year's,  and 
you  will  have  the  half-year  and  more,  that  Cabot  tells  of. 

Biddle  quotes  from  Hakluyt  the  directions  of  an  Anony- 
mous author  for  the  navigation  of  La  Plata,  in  which  after 
mentioning  the  five  mouths  which  the  Parana  empties 
through,  he  uses  these  words  to  indicate  the  distance  from  one 
of  them  :  "From  the  isle  of  Martin  Garcia  unto  St.  Salvador  is 
nine  or  ten  leagues.  This  is  an  island  which  standeth  two 
leagues  within  the  first  mouth  where  Sebastian  Cabot  took  posses- 
sion"* The  island  of  Martin  Garcia  is  at  a  short  distance  from 
the  San  Gabriel  group  which  are  nearly  opposite  to  Buenos 
Ayres,  only  a  little  more  to  the  north,  and  so  called  after  So- 
lis's  Pilot  who  was  buried  there.  :j:  And  as  it  is  clearly  apparent 
from  Herrera's  words  that  he  speaks  of  an  island  of  San  Gab- 
riel, standing  alone,  by  itself,  and  he  must,  under  the  name  of 
San  Gabriel,  mean  the  group  of  five  islets  instead  ;  Biddle 
suspects  that  the  Spanish  historian,  from  want  of  exactness, 
meant  by  San  Gabriel  the  island  of  Martin  Garcia,  misled  by 
its  nearness  to  that  group.  He  is  brought  to  suspect  this  by 
Eden's  account  which  says  expressly  that  De  Solis  was  killed  in 
attempting  to  take  possession  of  the  island  of  Martin  Garcia, 
and  that  it  was  the  same  afterwards  carried  by  Cabot.§  Finally 
Herrera  himself  says  that  from  the  place  where  Cabot  on  his 
arrival  left  his  ships  to  the  river  which  he  called  San  Salva- 
dor was  a  distance  of  seven  leagues.  Now  the  Directions  re- 
ferred to  put  the  distance  from  the  island  of  Martin  Garcia  to 
the  Port  of  San  Salvador  at  nine  leagues  ;  but  the  same  Direc- 
tions say  that  the  Port  was  two  leagues  beyond  the  mouth  of 
the  river.  And  as  Herrera  is  speaking  of  the  mouth  of  the 
river,   deducting   the   two   leagues   from   there  to  the  port 


*  This  will  be  seen  later.  f  Hakluyt,  vol.  iii,  p.  729. 

%  Eden  fol.  316,  and  App.  xxxix.  §  Biddle,  bk.  i,  ch.  xx,  p.  150. 


FIRST  ATTACK  BY  THE  GUARANIS.  203 

there  remain  exactly  seven  leagues,  as  Herrera  has  it.  This 
fully  confirms  Biddle's  suspicion.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  any 
historical  importance,  but  still  it  ought  to  be  noticed. 

Leaving  Anthony  deGrajeda  at  San  Salvador  in  charge  of 
the  fort  and  the  ships,  Cabot  with  the  boats  and  a  caravel  en- 
tered the  Parana  on  his  way  to  the  mouth  of  the  Paraguay.  * 
Both  banks  of  the  river  were  inhabited  by  the  Guaranis, 
"a  warlike,  treacherous,  and  haughty  people,"  says  the 
Spanish  historian,  "  calling  all  slaves  that  are  not  of  their 
language,  with  whom  they  were  always  at  war,  in  which  they 
were  very  bloody  and  cruel,  killing  all  they  could  and  spar- 
ing no  man  his  life.  .  .  .  Great  bands  started  out  and  cross- 
ing all  the  lands  of  the  nation,  extending  more  than  five 
hundred  leagues,  they  came  to  the  land  of  Peru,  and  after  do- 
ing great  destruction,  returned  victorious  to  their  home  :  but 
some  of  them  remaining  in  the  mountains  there,  continued  to 
do  great  damage."  f  This  account  of  Herrera's,  stripped  of 
the  sentiment  of  lofty  contempt  which  the  white  man  felt  for 
the  natives  of  the  lands  he  discovered,  and  reduced  to  its  true 
proportion,  means  that  the  Guaranis  were  a  noble  people  that 
would  endure  no  masters,  not  less  fearless  to  meet  the 
enemy  openly  than  crafty  in  catching  him  in  ambush  and 
snares  ;  but  themselves  intolerant  of  a  yoke,  they  were  over- 
bearing in  imposing  it  on  others,  and  without  pity  or  mercy 
for  a  conquered  enemy. 

"  Levanto  una  fortaleza,  dexando  en  ella  alcuna  gente,  y  con  la  demas  en 
los  bateles  y  caravela  deterniiuo  de  descubrir  a  quel  no."  Herrera,  Dec.  iii, 
lib.  ix,  cap.  3.  "Continuaron  pues  el  viaje  dejando  la  fortaleza  a  cargo  de 
Oregorio  Caro."  Ramirez,  1.  c. 

Caro's  name  in  Ramirez  is  certainly  a  mistake  in  copying,  for  we  shall  have 
conclusive  evidence  further  on  that  Anthony  de  Grajeda  was  commandant  of 
the  fort,  and  that  Gregory  Caro  was  in  command  of  another  fort  much  higher 
up. 

f  "La  mas  principal  generacion  de  Indios  de  aquella  tierra  son  los  Guaranis, 
gente  guerrera,  traydora,  y  sobervia,  y  que  Hainan  esclavos  a  todos  los  que  no 
son  de  su  lengua,  con  los  quales  sempre  andavan  en  guerra,  en  la  qual  eran 
muy  sangrietos,  y  crueles,  matando  a  quantos  podian,  sin  tomar  hombre  a  vida. 
y  ...  salieron  grandes  companias,  y  caminando  portodaslastierras  de  sunacion, 
que  se  estenden  mas  de  quinientas  legiias,  llegaron  a  tierra  del  Piru,  y  despues 
de  aver  hecho  grandes  destruyciones,  se  bolvieron  vitoriosos  a  su  naturaleza  : 
pero  quedandose  algunos  en  aquellas  sierras,  hizieron  siempre  grandes  dafios 
.  .  .  .  "  Herrera,  Dec.  iv,  lib.  viii,  cap.  12. 


204  THE  LIFE  OP  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

At  the  sight  of  the  strange  people  ascending  their  river,  the 
fierce  savages  raised  their  undaunted  fronts  and  rushed  to 
arms.  Ramirez  gives  no  details  ;  he  only  says  that  on  the  first 
day  of  the  year  1528,  the  Spaniards  stopped  at  an  isle,  to  which 
they  gave  the  name  of  New-Year's  from  the  date  of  their  ar- 
rival, and  from  there  Cabot  dispatched  his  Lieutenant,  Michael 
Rifos,  with  thirty-five  men  to  pacify  and  punish  the  tribes 
that  thought  of  rebelling  against  them,  and  that  Rifos  obtained 
a  complete  victory  and  returned  with  great  booty.* 

No  one  will  wonder  that  so  fierce  a  people  should  let  them- 
selves be  so  easily  beaten  by  a  handful  of  ours,  if  he  con- 
siders that  the  poor  savages  met  the  enemy  with  naked 
breasts  and  primitive  arms,  whilst  ours,  besides  being  well 
protected  and  governed  by  sense  and  discipline,  also  carried 
fire-arms.  As  these  arms,  less  by  wounds  and  death  than  by 
the  noise  and  flash  of  their  discharge,  always  carried  at  first 
into  the  disordered  multitude  of  the  savages  an  impression  of 
invincible  terror,  -they  could  not  have  failed  of  their  effect  on 
this  fearless  people  who  had  never  before  seen  or  heard  them. 
This  first  experience  of  the  power  of  the  strangers  seems  to 
have  made  them  cautious  of  provoking  a  second.  I  say  seems, 
because  Ramirez  puts  their  defeat  at  the  island  of  New- Year's, 
but  does  not  say  where  that  Was,  and  omits  entirely  fort  San 
Espiritu  which  Cabot  raised  on  the  Parana.  Herrera  gives 
the  fort,  but  omits  New- Year's  and  the  combat.  But  as  the 
Spanish  historian  expresses  it  in  these  words  :  "Sebastian 
Cabot,  after  making  peace  with  the  Guaranis,  built  the  fort 
of  San  Espiritu  while  it  lasted, "f  it  seems  to  me  that  the 
expression,  after  making  peace,  naturally  presupposes  a  war ;  and 
so  interpreting  events  and  localities  in  the  order  that  appears 
to  me  most  natural,  I  have  placed  the  stay  at  New- Year's  im- 


*  "  Continuan  pues  el  viaje  .  .  .  y  llegar  a  la  isla  Ano  nuevo  este  mismo  riia 
1528.  Desde  aqui  mando  el  cap  :  gen  :  a  Miquel  Rifos  con  35  hombres  para  apac- 
iguar  y  castigar  a  los  tribues  que  trataban  de  rebelarse  contra  ellos  .  .  .  Con- 
sign ase  la  completa  victoria,  y  el  rico  botin  que  adquisieron  ..."  Ramirez, 
App.  xxxvii. 

f  "  Aviendo  heclio  Sebastian  Gaboto  la  paz  con  esta  generacion  (Guaranis) 
mientras  la  pudo  conservar,  fabrico  la  poblacion  de  Sanctus  Spiritus  que  dixeron 
la  fortaleza  de  Gaboto."  Herrera,  Dec.  iii,  lib.  viii,  cap.  xii. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  NATIVES.  205 

mediately  before  the  raising  of  the  fort.  It  is  true,  Herrera 
in  another  place  surrounds  the  raising  of  the  fort  with 
different  circumstances,  but  the  two  sets  of  circumstances  are 
not  incompatible  with  each  other  and  may  very  well  have  oc- 
curred together.  This  other  passage  is  as  follows :  "At 
thirty  leagues'  distance  (from  San  Salvador)  he  came  to 
a  river  called  Zarcarana,  where  he  found  a  people  of  good  in- 
telligence and  made  another  fort,  which  was  called  Sanctus 
Spiritus,  and  for  another  name  the  fort  of  Gaboto  (Fort  Ca- 
bot)." *  In  my  view,  Cabot,  after  defeating  the  Guaranis,  and 
forcing  them  to  terms,  resumed  his  advance  by  the  River,  and 
further  up,  at  the  mouth  of  one  of  the  numerous  affluents  that 
run  into  the  Parana,  where  the  situation  and  the  population 
seemed  to  him  better  fitted  for  the  establishment  of  a  small 
fort,  he  stopped  and  built  the  fort  of  San  Espiritu.  The 
Zarcarana  was  afterwards  named  the  Terceiro  by  the 
Spaniards.  But  the  reader  must  not,  on  hearing  the  term 
fort,  suppose  it  meant  in  the  usual  sense  :  for  Cabot's  forts'  were, 
and  could  be,  only  huts  or  groups  of  huts  more  or  less 
secured  on  all  sides  by  banks  of  dirt,  stones,  wood,  any  thing 
to  prevent  a  sudden  attack  by  the  natives.  This,  which  is 
easily  enough  imagined  of  itself,  is  expressly  stated  by  Diego 
Garcia,  in  connection  with  the  very  fort  constructed  at  this 
place. f  He  left  Gregory  Caro  in  command  of  a  small  garri- 
son in  this  fort,  and  continued  his  exploration.^; 

These  garrisons,  small  as  they  were,  for  a  few  men  with  the 
terror  of  their  arms  sufficed  to  keep  the  Indians  in  suspicion 
and  dread,  were  a  constant  and  serious  drain  on  Cabot's 
strength  already  much  reduced  ;  but  prudence  demanded  he 
should  secure  his  rear  by  keeping  continually  before  the  eyes 


*  **  A  treynta  leguas  de  camino  llego  a  uno  rio  que  se  llama  del  Zarcarana, 
hallo  gente  de  buena  razou,  hizo  otro  fuerca,  que  se  lhimo  Sanctus  Spiritus, 
y  por  otro  norabre  la  fortalezade  Gaboto."  Herrera,  Dec.  iii,  lit).  ix,cap.  3. 

f  "  .  .  .  es  esta  casa  una  casa  que  tenia  lieclia  de  paia  Sebastian  gavoto  que 
la  tenia  por  fortaleza  e  llamavala  la  fortaleza  de  Santf  Spiritus  ..."  Relacion 
y  Derrotero  de  Diego  Garcia.  App.  No.  xxxviii. 

X  The  appointment  of  Caro  and  Grajeda  as  commandants  of  the  two  forts 
wik  be  made  clearer  by  documents  later  on. 


206  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

of  the  Indigenes  a  salutary  terror  in  those  little  forts,  and  have 
in  them  a  safe  refuge  in  case  of  misfortune,  and  a  sure  and 
quick  means  of  communicating  with  his  ships. « 

On  occasion  of  the  battle  fought  near  the  island  of  New- 
Year's,  Ramirez  tells  of  a  custom  of  those  savages  which  de- 
serves mention.  At  the  death  of  one  of  their  sons,  as  a  mark 
of  the  sad  loss  suffered  in  his  death,  they  cut  off  a  finger  ;  and 
as  often  as  a  new  loss  of  the  kind  occurs  they  make  a  new  am- 
putation from  their  hand.* 

The  two  banks  of  the  river  which  they  were  ascending  were 
thickly  peopled  :  this  is  unanimously  attested  by  Ramirez, 
Ramusio,  and  Herrera.  But  of  their  customs  and  condition, 
Herrera  only  says  "they  were  a  very  intelligent  people  :"f 
and  Ramusio  gets  out  of  it  with  these  few  words  :  "Finding  the 
country  always  beautiful,  with  inhabitants  without  end, 
who  ran  to  see  me  as  a  wonder.J  Ramirez  seems  to  speak  of 
them  in  more  detail  in  his  narrative,  but  the  abstract  which 
I  have  only  mentions  the  mere  fact.§  Ramirez  also  hints 
at  great  suffering  from  hunger  endured  by  the  Spaniards  from 
scarcity  of  victuals.  [ 

On  reaching  the  junction  where  the  Paraguay  and  the  Pa- 
rana unite  their  waters,  Cabot  chose  what  seemed  the  larger, 
and  was  the  Parana  ;  but  when  he  found  it  taking  him  east- 
wards he  suspected  he  might  find  himself  in  Brazil,  a  Portu- 
guese possession,  and  went  back  and  entered  the  Paraguay.  T 
The  few  hints  given  by  one  of  Cabot's  interrogatories  on  the 


*  ".  .  .  la  rare  costumbre  que  los  Indios  tenian  de  cortarse  undedo  a  la  mu- 
erte  de  sus  hijos."  Ramirez,  App.  xxxvii. 

f  "Hallo  gente  de  buena  razon  "  Dec.  iii,  lib.  ix,  cap.  3. 

%  Narrazioni  e  Viaggi,  T.  i.  fol.  415. 

§  This  abstract  every  now  and  then  says  :  "Habla  luego  de  las  diversas  tribus 
comarcanas,  sus  costumbres,  productas  de  la  tierra  etc."  and  even  in  this  place 
mentions  that  there  is  a  description  of  the  customs  of  the  peoples  they  met. 
Sec  App.  xxxvii. 

|  "Durante  este  viaje  .  .  .  faltaron  harabres  por  la  escasez  de  viveres."      lb. 

1"  "De  alii  fue  descubriendo  el  rio  arriba  de  Parana  que  es  el  de  la  Plata  : 
hallo  en  el  muchas  islas  y  rios  :  y  siguiendo  la  mas  corriente,  al  cabo  dedocien- 
tas  leguas  Uego  a  otro  rio,  al  qual  llamau  los  Indios  Paraguay,  dexo  el  rio  grande 
a  mauo  derecha,  pareciendole  que  se  iva  declinando  hazia  la  cpsta  del  Brasil." 
Herrera,  1.  c. 


SUFFERING  FROM  FAMINE.  207 

trial,  joined  with  Ramirez's  narrative,  afford  us  aglimpse  of  one 
of  the  most  terrible  moments  recorded  in  the  history  of  famine.* 
We  have  already  seen  from  Ramirez  that  before  reaching  the 
mouth  of  the  Paraguay  the  galiot  was  in  great  distress  for 
food  :  the  hope  that  the  longed-for  mountain  which  held  such 
treasures  was  not  far  off,  and  the  trust  that  the  region  further 
on  must  relieve  their  despair,  had  kiept  them  up  ;  and  from 
the  very  rage  of  hunger  they  drew  breath  to  increase  their 
labors  for  the  purpose  of  ending  their  sufferings.  But  when 
they  entered  the  Paraguay  things  were  at  the  last  extremity. 
Food  had  given  out  altogether  on  the  galiot,  and  no  appear- 
ance of  relief  of  any  kind  was  apparent  on  either  side  of  the 
river.  They  ate  the  most  unclean  animals,  they  chewed  the 
wildest  plants  :f  many  called  on  God  for  death,  no  longer  able 
to  endure  their  torments  %  A  sad  event  occurred  to  heighten 
the  horror  of  thoir  condition.  Having  stopped  the  advance 
of  the  galiot,  Cabot  made  some  of  the  men  land  to  see  if  they 
could  find  in  the  woods  and  the  deserts  of  that  land  something 
to  relieve  their  hunger.  At  evening  they  returned,  all  except 
a  young  boy.  To  comprehend  the  grief  with  which  they 
noted  his  absence,  we  must  remember  the  brotherly  union 
as  of  one  family,  which  exists  between  those  of  the  same  ship, 
especially  in  lands  very  far  from  home  ;  and  remember  that 
they  were  in  entirely  new  regions,  where  the  character  of  the 
inhabitants  and  the  nature  of  the  animals  roaming  in  the 
dense  forests  rising  lofty  and  impenetrable  on  either  bank, 
were  alike  unknown.  Great  fires  were  immediately  lit,  that 
their  brightness  in  the  obscurity  of  night  might  serve  as  a 
beacon  to  the  straggler  :  from  time  to  time  in  the  deep  silence 


*  The  Interrogatory  is  the  xxvi,  but  as  it  is  too  long  to  insert  here  entire  I  give 
only  a  little  bit  of  the  witnesses'  depositions.     For  Ramirez,  see  next  note. 

f  "Llegan  por  fiu  a  abocarse  con  el  Paraguay  porelqualseencaminan.  yen 
el  que  los  trabajos  y  el  hambre  se  duplicar,  a  causa  de  haberselescoucluidos  por 
complete)  los  viveres,  viendose  precitados  a  comer  los  animales  mas  immundos 
y  las  plantas  mas  agrestes."   Ramirez,  1.  c. 

J".  .  .  .  avian  padescidocn  el  camino  mucha  hambre,  edeseavau  todoslamu- 
erte  antes  que  la  vid;i  por  queste  testigo  se  la  oyo  demandar  a  Dios  a  muchos 
dellos  por  no  pasar  el  travajo  y  hambre  que  pasavan/'  VI  witness  to  said  In- 
terrogatory. 


20S  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

reigning  over  all  the  land  they  shouted,  discharged  their  fire- 
locks, and  guns,  to  warn  the  unfortunate  one  in  which  direc- 
tion were  his  brethren.  But  the  night  passed  without  any 
one  appearing.  In  the  morning  Cabot  sent  out  a  band  of 
men  who  pushed  through  the  thick  woods,  calling  their 
brother,  and  making  the  forest  and  the  mountains  near  echo 
back  their  shouts  and  the  sound  of  their  fire-arms.  But  even- 
ing came  and  they  went  back  tired  to  the  galiot,  with  no 
trace  of  the  lost  one.  The  next  day  Cabot  sent  the  same  band, 
which  moved  about  all  day  hunting  and  calling  by  every  pos- 
sible means  ;  but  no  one  was  seen,  no  one  answered.*  Cabot 
could  not  yet  move  on  and  abandon  that  boy  of  his  ;  but  the 
officers  got  around  him  and  begged  and  conjured  him  to  do 
so  ;  that  he  had  done  every  thing  possible  to  recover  the  lost 
boy  ;  his  not  answering  so  many  calls  was  a  sure  sign  he 
was  either  dead  or  hidden  in  the  woods  so  deep  that  he  could 
neither  hear  them  nor  find  his  way  out  ;  perhaps  the  wild 
beasts  had  already  torn  him  in  pieces,  or  surely  would  do  so, 
shut  up  and  lost  in  the  inextricable  maze  of  the  forest  ;  let 
him  consider  the  desperate  straits  they  were  all  in,  and  not 
leave  all  to  die  of  starvation  for  the  thin  hope  of  finding  the 
lost  one.  Their  remonstrances  were  only  too  just  and  well- 
founded  :  and  the  galiot  was  ordered  to  proceed  on  her  course,  f 
But  if  they  all  followed  obediently  the  will  of  a  captain 
who  led  them  into  such  great  sufferings,  in  their  secret  heart 
many,  and  perhaps  most,  cursed  him,  his  discoveries,  and  the 
mountains  he  pursued  and  which  fled  ever  further  from  them. 
The  interpreter  and  head  of  this  discontent  was 
a  certain  Francis  de  Lepe  who,  cautiously  dropping 
a  word    about  their   desperate   condition,   and   finding   the 


*  The  fact  is  narrated  with  great  detail  in  the  second  interrogatory  annexed 
t<»  Sebastian  Cabot's  proofs.  The  witnesses,  some  of  whom  were  not  only  present 
like  t  lie  rest  at  the  occurrence, but  were  part  of  those  sent  to  find  their  lost  com- 
rade, confirm  and  add  new  details  to  Cabot's  account, 

t"  entonces  los  oficiales  de  su  mairestad  dixeron  al  capitan  general  que  se 
fuese  por  aue  no  peresciese  tod  a  la  geute  porque  si  alii  estovieramos  toda  la 
gente  se  destruyera  y  muriera  de  harnbre."  II  Interrogatory  annexed  to  Ca- 
bot's proofs. 


Execution  of  lepe.  209 

soil  ready  for  the  seed,  began  to  talk  with  some  of  the  most 
trusty  of  them  about  seizing  the  brigantine  which  followed 
the  galiot,  and  going  off  on  their  own  account  where  at  least 
they  could  get  something  to  eat.  There  were  with  the  Span- 
iards some  Indians  brought  as  guides  and  interpreters,  and  the 
hunger  they  were  suffering  from  gave  more  torture  to  these  poor 
savages,  accustomed  to  obtaining  the  little  food  necessary  for 
their  frugal  wants  with  all  ease  from  their  fertile  lands,  than 
to  the  Spaniards.  So  that  it  was  not  hard  for  Lepe  to  bring 
over  some  of  them  to  accept  the  charge  of  guiding  the  de- 
serters to  where  there  was  plenty  of  food,  whether  they  actually 
knew  where  to  find  it,  or  only  made  promises  in  order  to  escape 
from  present  agony.  The  interrogatory  puts  the  number  of  con- 
spirators at  thirty-five,  one  witness  says  forty,  an  extraordin- 
ary number  considering  the  necessarily  small  number  on  the 
galiot.  But  the  safest  way  is  to  hold  to  what  the  other  wit- 
nesses are  contented  with  saying,  and  call  them  indefinitely 
many.  Among  so  many  it  was  too  difficult  to  preserve  secrecy. 
In  fact  one  Lewis  of  Leon,  a  sailor,  to  whom  it  was  proposed  to 
take  part  in  the  flight,  did  not  refuse,  but  moved,  as  it  seems, 
by  a  strong  sense  of  duty,  disclosed  the  affair  to  the  Chaplain, 
with  whom  he  was  accustomed  to  converse,  and  to  whom  con- 
sequently he  could  tell  it  without  exciting  the  suspicion  of  the 
others,  begging  him,  to  give  immediate  warning  of  it  to  the 
Captain.  Cabot  after  hearing  it,  and  receiving  from  the  sailor's 
own  mouth  more  exact  information,  arrested  Lepe  and  the 
others  named  as  in  the  plot,  and  gave  them  a  brief  trial  : 
the  accomplices  he  punished  in  various  degrees  ;  and  com- 
manded the  chief  to  be  hanged  at  once.*  The  wretch  died 
resigned  saying  :  "  As  I  pay  for  all,  I  wish  you  all  a  good  voy- 


*  "francisco  de  lepe  y  otros...querian  yr  a buscar  de  comer  que  stava  alii  uno 
o  (Ins  yndios  que  yvan  con  ellos  en  un  vergantin  que  beran  natnrales  de  a 
quella  tierra  que  lesdixo  que  Ins  llevaria  presto  en  tierra  donde  hallasen  de  co- 
mer e  yuan  de  villa  fuente  le  dixo  a  este  testigo...  e  queste  testigo  entonces  lo 
dixo  a  un  capellan  de  la  dicha  armada  que  hera  su  compafiero  para  que  ledi- 
xese  al  dicbo  capitan  generate  quel  dicbo  capitan  general  le  llamo  e  se  ynfonno 
deste  dicbo  testigo  de  In  que  sabia  e  queste  testiiro  le  dixo  lo  que  sabia  e  que 
despendrio  al  dicbe  francisco  de  lep*»  v  a  ntros  muchos  e  hizo  su  ynformacion 
y  ahorco  al  dicho  francisco  de  lepe."  VI  wi  ness  to  the  xxvi  Interrogatory. 

14 


210  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

age."*  This  promptness  and  severity  in  punishing  had  a 
terrifying  effect  on  all  and  none  durst  try  it  again. 

But  strong  as  Cabot's  determination  was  to  continue  this 
course  in  the  hope  of  soon  finding  some  spot  to  relieve 
their  hunger,  he  was  forced  to  admit  that  it  was  no  lon- 
ger possible  to  trust  to  the  uncertainty  of  hope  without  plac- 
ing himself  and  all  the  rest  in  great  risk  of  dying  of  hunger. 
He  therefore  stopped  the  galiot,  and  sent  back  the  brigantine, 
as  fast  as  they  could  row,  to  get  victuals  at  some  huts  they  had 
passed  on  their  way.  The  place  was  at  a  good  distance,  but 
their  own  necessities  and  the  danger  in  which  they  had  left 
their  comrades  added  strength  to  the  rowers,  so  that  they 
were  soon  at  the  village.  They  refreshed  themselves,  loaded, 
and  departed  ;  and  the  quickness  with  which  they  returned 
was  marvellous,  f 

Restored  by  the  food  brought  by  the  brigantine,  they  re- 
sumed their  way  with  fresh  vigor  towards  those  gold 
mountains,  which  seemed  to  grow  ever  more  distant,  but 
whose  existence  received  fresh  and  surer  confirmation. 

Further  on,  they  found  a  population  much  more  numerous 
than  the  others,  of  which  they  had  heard  already  on  their 
way,  and  the  chief  who  ruled  them,  by  name  Yaguaron,  was 
one  of  the  most  powerful  on  that  river.  They  had  been  told 
a  great  deal  in  his  favor,  but  the  reception  he  gave  them  sur- 
passed their  anticipations :  they  were  treated  with  great 
courtesy  and  friendship,  and  furnished  bountifully  with  food. 
They  stayed  there  several  days,  for  the  needed  rest,  and  gave 
the  place  the  name  of  Santa  Anna.J  These  people  were  in 
the  habit  of  wearing  in  their  ears  rings  and    little   plates 


*  "oyo  este  dicho  testigo  decir  aldicho  francisco  de  lepe  quando  lo  llevavan 
ahorcar  que  pues  el  avia  sido  culpado  y  pagava  por  todos  que  dios  diese  bueu 
viajo  "  Deposition  of  the  viii  witness. 

f  "  Para  remediar  tan  urgente  necesidad  manda  el  capitan  un  vergantin  atodo 
remo  en  busca  ue  bastimeutos  a  unos  caserios  bastaute  distantes,  volviendo  al 
poco  tiempo  bien  provistos."     Ramirez  I.e. 

%  "Con  esto  pudieron  llegar  a  diclio  pueblo  que  se  hallaba  reirido  por  un  indio 
principal  llamado  yaguaron  el  qual  lea  ricibio  muy  bien  y  los  proveyo  de 
abuudautes  viveres.  En  este  puerto  que  recibio  el  uombre  de  S.  Ana  estubieron 
algunos  dias."  Ramirez,  1.  c. 


ENCOUNTER  WITH  THE  AG  ALES.  211 

of  gold  and  silver  :  and  this  sight  was  full  of  comfort 
and  hope  for  the  Spaniards.  Not  satisfied  with  ascertaining 
from  them  where  they  obtained  these  metals,  Cabot  sent 
Francis  da  Puerto  to  the  neighboring  populations  to  make  the 
same  inquiry.  The  information  brought  back  was  that  about 
seventy  leagues  further  on  there  was  a  people  called  Chan- 
dules,  from  whom  they  got  the  ear-rings  and  plates  in  exchange 
for  other  articles  they  gave  them.  Their  joy  on  hearing  this 
was  increased  on  learning  that  this  people  dwelt  near  the 
chain  of  mountains  from  which  those  metals  were  dug.  They 
therefore  set  out  again  on  their  way,  panting  for  a  speedy  ter- 
mination of  their  labors,  and  the  fulfilment  of  their  hopes.* 

To  hasten  their  arrival  at  those  longed-for  places,  Cabot 
sent  forward  the  brigantine  under  the  orders  of  his  Lieu- 
tenant-General,  Michael  Rifos,  to  explore  a  river  called  Nep- 
etin  which  according  to  the  Indians  had  its  source  in  those 
mountains.  The  mission  of  Rifos  had  a  most  unhappy  re- 
sult in  an  encounter  with  a  people  called  the  Agales  ; 
but  the  abstract  of  Ramirez  in  its  extreme  brevity  leaves 
us  uncertain  how  it  happened.  But  as  after  the  encounter 
Cabot  came  to  a  determination  which  decided  the  future 
of  the  whole  expedition  ;  and  Herrera  also  mentions  a 
battle  after  which  Cabot  made  the  decision  which  Ra- 
mirez puts  after  the  encounter  of  Rifos,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  combat  related  by  Herrera  must  be  that 
of  Rifos.  This  settled,  with  the  assistance  of  both  writers, 
we  will  put  together,  as  well  as  may  be,  the  last  act  of 
this  most  unfortunate  expedition. 

Herrera  relates  that  at  thirty-four  leagues  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Paraguay  they  found  for  the  first  time  a  "laboring  peo- 
ple."!   Then  all  the  other  populations  hitherto  seen  were  true 


*  "  ....  ycomo  vieron  que  los  Indios  Ilevaban  oreyeras  y  plancbas  de  oro 
y  plata,  quisieron  saber  de  donde  lo  traian  asi  los  deste  pueblo  como  los 
de  otro  immediate)  a  donde  si  mandoa  Franco  del  Puerto.  Este  pudo  averiguar 
que  los  cbandules,  pueblo  distante  casi  70  le<rnas,  se  lo  daban  en  cambio  de 
otros  obietos.  Determina  el  general  continuar  el  viage  hasta  los  mismos  cban- 
dules, que  segun  desian  se  liallaban  cereanos  a  la  sierra.  .  ." — Ramirez,  1.  c. 

t  "  .  .  .  y  entrando  por  el  a  las  treynta  y  quatro  leguas,  hallo  gente  la> 
bradora,  que  hasta  entonces  no  la  bavia  visto  <  .  .  "—Herrera.  ib. 


212  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

children  of  the  forest,  whose  wants  were  supplied  by  the 
natural  fertility  and  abundance  of  the  land,  and  they  lived 
together  with  that  broad  liberality  and  community  of  goods 
which  existed  among  the  savages  discovered  by  Christopher 
Columbus.  Hence  perhaps  one  of  the  reasons  why  the 
navigation  along  the  river  had  met  no  other  obstacles 
after  the  combat  at  the  Island  of  New- Year's,  was  that  the 
inhabitants  of  both  banks  accustomed  to  find  easily  and 
naturally  in  the  free  products  of  their  land  wherewith  to 
satisfy  their  wants,  saw  no  harm  or  danger  to  their  food 
and  maintenance  in  the  strangers'  arrival.  But  it  seems 
that  the  Agales  by  the  sweat  of  labor  forced  from  the  soil 
what  they  required  for  living,  and  therefore  must  have  had 
very  definite  notions  of  mine  and  thine  :  although  others  took 
no  umbrage  on  seeing  strangers  come  down  on  their  land  and 
carry  off  the  products  which  the  land  freely  gave  to  all,  a 
very  different  impression  was  received  by  the  Agales  who  had 
sweated  to  bring  them  forth.  To  this  we  may  perhaps  add 
that  this  people  very  far  from  the  place  where  the  Spaniards 
had  made  the  Guaranis  feel  the  power  of  their  arms,  knew 
little  or  nothing  of  that  fact,  and  therefore  had  no  reason  to 
stand  in  awe  of  the  foreigners. 

This  was  the  people  among  which  Michael  de  Rifos  arrived 
with  his  brigantine.  The  Spaniards,  feeling  secure  from  the 
pacific  behavior  of  the  people  hitherto  met,  went  quietly  on, 
and  three  of  them  went  ashore  to  gather  dates,  as  they  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  doing  without  danger  or  interference  all 
along  the  way.  But  here  they  were  suddenly  attacked  by 
the  natives  and  all  three  killed.*  So  far  as  appears,  Rifos 
did  not  think  he  ought  to  land  immediately  and  revenge 
this  wrongful  act,  influenced  by  the  necessity  of  having  the 
population  friendly  in  order  that  they  might  reach  the 
mountains  and  obtain  the  treasures  they  were  dreaming  of. 
He  therefore  approached  the  main  population  with  signs  of 
good  friendship  ;  and  at  first  he  was  well  received  ;  but  after- 


*  "Y  le  tomaron  tresque  avian  ydo  a  cortar  palraitos  para  comer."  Herrera, 
Dec.  iii,  lib.  ix,  cap.  3. 


CABOT  TURNS  BACK.  213 

wards,  as  they  feared,  says  Ramirez,  to  be  punished  for  the 
slaughter  they  had  done  (  and  this  slaughter  I  think  was  of 
the  three  killed  as  told  by  Herrera),  they  treacherously  slew 
Rifos,  with  some  of  his  men.  At  this  sight,  the  rest,  livid 
with  fear  and  anguish,  rushed  at  once  to  the  galiot  which, 
owing  to  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  river,  was  following  at  a 
distance.  * 

From  the  words  of  Ramirez  it  seems  that  Rifos  had  im- 
prudently landed  with  a  number  of  his  men,  and  they  were 
massacred  whilst  standing  unsuspicious  in  face  of  the  good 
reception  they  met.  But  they  died  not  unavenged,  according 
to  Herrera,  who  says  the  Spaniards  slew  many  of  them.  But 
if  they  had  slain  many  hundreds,  the  slaughter  of  the  enemy 
could  not  compensate  the  loss  of  the  twenty-five  men  they  left 
there,  f  Cabot's  entire  strength  on  leaving  Europe  was  200 
men,  to  which  were  afterwards  added  a  few  Christians  found 
at  the  Bay  of  St.  Catharine.  %  Now  of  these  men  of  his,  many 
died  at  that  bay,  many  in  the  crossing  to  the  Plata,  many  at 
San  Lazaro,  many  at  San  Salvador.§  If  the  adjective,  many, 
is  taken  in  the  restricted  sense  of  a  score  or  less,  the  small 
number  becomes  very  large,  taken  in  relation  to  the  whole 
number  of  the  men.  Two  had  been  hanged,  three  deposed  and 
left  at  the  Isle  of  Patos,  some  remained  with  Grajeda  to  guard 
the  ships  in  the  harbor  of  San  Salvador,  others  were  in 
garrison  with  Gregory  Caro  at  Fort  San  Espiritu.  There  could 


*  "  Tratan  de  celebrar  paces  con  el  pueblo  de  los  agales,  y  al  principio  son 
bien  recibidos,  pero  como  temieseu  los  Iudios  ser  castigados  por  las  muertas 
que  ante  habian  hecho,  matan  traidosamente  al  teniente  del  vergautin  Miguel 
Rifos  con  algunos  suos  volviendo  los  reslantes  tristes  a  la  galeota,  que  les  ha- 
biaseguido  desde  lejosy  con  difficultad  por  las  condiciones  especialesdel  Rio." 
Ramirez  — App.  xxxvii. 

f  "Alii  se  bizieron  tan  grande  resistencia  que  no  pudo  passar  adelante,  mato 
muchoslndios,  y  le  mataron  veynte  y  cinco  Castellanos."  Herrera.  Dec.  iii,  lib. 
ix,  can.  3. 

X  Tbe  reader  may  remember  that  Martin  of  Biscay  who  was  banged  on  the 
Parana  was  one  of  those  taken  along  from  the  Bay  of  St..  Catharine.  However, 
the  greater  part  of  tbe  fifteen  Christians  found  there  continued  to  remain  in  that 
place,  as  will  be  clearly  seen  a  little  further  on. 

§  Not  to  repeat  citations,  the  reader  is  referred  to  what  was  said  in  Chapters 
XVII  and  XVIH. 


214  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

therefore,  only  have  been  few  who  followed  Cabot  on  the  ex- 
ploration of  the  river.  From  these  few,  taking  now  twenty-five 
away,  what  force  had  lie  left  to  meet  future  dangers  and  secure 
control  of  the  gold  mountains?  Indeed,  he  found  himself  with 
thegaliot  in  such  danger  from  the  small  number  of  men  at 
his  disposal,  that  he  was  forced  to  release  and  arm  for  the 
common  safety  those  he  was  taking  along  as  prisoners  for 
their  complicity  in  Lepe's  plot.*  In  addition  to  this,  a  rumor 
was  brought  from  the  river  that  a  Portuguese  fleet  was 
advancing  by  the  Rio  de  Solis.  f  How  was  he  to  face  this  new 
enemy  ?  It  was  a  fresh  torment  to  his  feelings  to  behold  his 
plans  again  destroyed  ;  and  that,  too,  just  as  he  reached  out 
his  hand  to  pluck  the  palm  of  victory.  But  the  necessity  was 
pressing,  and  no  human  force  could  oppose  it.  And  he  gave 
the  command  to  retreat. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Diego  Garcia. 


Returning  now  down  the  Parana  we  meet  another  explorer 
coming  up  the  river  on  the  same  exploration  as  Sebastian  Ca- 
bot is  making.  He  belonged  to  a  very  common  class  of  ex- 
plorers abounding  in  the  XVI  century,  and  but  for  his  con- 
nection with  Cabot  history  would  not  probably  take  note  of 
him.  But  he  made  a  narrative  of  his  voyage,  and  speaks  there 
of  Cabot  ;  and  as  his  words  inspired  by  bitter  enmity  towards 

*  "El  dicho  capitan  Caboto  llevava  presos  con  grillos  a  ciertos  ombres  que  de- 
zian  que  beran  en  el  motin  e  que  despues  los  solto  a  causa  que  los  yndios  le 
mataron  los  cristianos  que  yvan  en  vergantin."— I  witness  to  the  xxvi  Inter- 
rogatory of  Cabot's  proofs. 

f  "El  desgraciado  esito  de  esta  espedicion  y  el  saber  que  andaba  una  armada 
portuguesaen  el  rio  Solis  fueron  motivos  para  que  el  general  determinase  vol- 
verse  rio  abajo  hasta  el  Parana." 

Ramirez,  App.  xxxvii. 

"  Alii  pen  so  en  dar  la  buelta." 

Herrera,  Dec.  iii,  lib.  ix,  cap.  3. 


garcia's  expedition.  215 

him,  were  greedily  picked  up  by  Cabot's  enemies  and  became 
bloody  weapons  against  him,  this  has  given  a  certain  impor- 
tance to  his  voyage,  and  wherever  Cabot's  work  on  the  Plata 
is  spoken  of  there  is  always  mention  of  this  other  explorer  and 
of  their  meeting.  Who  he  was,  how,  and  for  what  purpose  he 
was  sailing,  was  told  and  printed  as  long  ago  as  1601  by  Her- 
rera.  His  name  was  Diego  Garcia,  and  he  is  the  same  person 
mentioned  in  our  XVI  chapter  as  a  braggart  and  coxcomb. 
He  was  born  at  Moguer,  a  little  Spanish  city  on  the  Tinto  a 
short  distance  from  Palos,  whence  Christopher  Columbus 
sailed  on  his  first  discovery,  and  he  was  sailing  for  the  account 
of  a  modest  Spanish  company.*  But  in  spite  of  this  open  and 
decided  declaration,  Charlevoix  has  built  a  story  all  invention 
from  the  bottom  up.  He  has  made  of  Diego  Garcia  a  Portu- 
guese general,  and  says  he  was  in  Brazil,  a  possession  of  the 
crown  of  Portugal  ;  that  as  soon  as  he  knew  of  Sebastian  Ca- 
bot's voyage  up  the  Plata,  apprehensive  for  the  neighboring 
possessions  of  his  country,  he  hurried  across  the  provinces  of 
Brazil  to  cut  off  his  road.  But  Cabot,  learning  of  his  ad- 
vance, quickly  got  his  men  together  and  descended 
the  river  in  all  haste,  to  put  himself  in  safety.  And 
all  this  he  embellishes  with  a  series  of  bold  deeds  and 
adventures  as  strange  and  surprising  as  in  a  regular  sensa- 
tional romance,  f  It  is  incomprehensible  how  Charlevoix, 
pretending  to  write  history,  could  believe  or  invent  such  tales 
when  he  had  his  way  clearly  marked  out  in  Herrera.  His 
error  was  the  cause,  I  believe,  of  even  the  way  Biddle  made 
a  false  step  or  two;  for  he  likewise  makes  Garcia  a  Portu- 
guese, in  spite  of  Herrera's  distinct  assertion.  But  if  he  errs  in 
this,  in  all  else  he  adheres  to  the  Spanish  historian's  account. 
But  acute  as  he  was  in  dissecting  every  question  that  undertook 
to  treat  of  Cabot,  having  no  aid  from  any  documents  that 
could  throw  any  light  on  the  obscurity  of  this  exploration, 
as  he  saw  the  figure  of  Diego  Garcia,  appearing  like  a  vision 
now  and  then  ;  he  fixed  his  gaze  on  that  and  thought  of  it  till 


*  This  will  be  reported  to  better  advantage  a  little  later. 

f  Charlevoix,  Ilistoire  du  Paraguay.  Liv.  i,  p.  26.et  suiv.— Paris,  MDCCLVI. 


216  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

he  seemed  to  see  in  it  something  mysterious.  And  with  this 
notion,  starting  from  the  point  that  he  was  a  Portuguese,  he 
whets  his  ingenuity  by  accumulating  argument  upon  argu- 
ment to  convince  the  reader  that  Diego  Garcia  was  an  agent 
of  Portugal  sent  to  follow  Cabot,  to  watch  his  course,  to  aid  the 
rebels  in  the  expedition  in  their  work,  if  necessary,  and  if  oc- 
casion offered,  even  take  the  command  of  it  in  order  to 
divert  it  from  the  Moluccas  and  keep  it  on  the  American 
coast.*  And  his  reasoning  is  so  close  and  strong  as  easily  to 
convince  the  reader  who  has  no  other  source  of  information. 
Instead  of  stopping  to  refute  Biddle's  reasoning,  since  new  ar- 
guments have  stripped  the  figure  of  Garcia  of  its  mysterious 
appearance,  and  reduced  it  to  its  very  poor  proportions,  we 
shall  only  remark  that  Diego  Garcia  sailed  from  Spain  more 
than  five  months  after  Cabot,  and  at  such  an  interval  between 
them  he  surely  could  not  have  been  sent  to  help  the  rebels. 

We  are  able  to  complete  the  imperfect  information  given 
by  Herrera  with  Garcia's  own  narrative,  an  authenticated  copy 
of  which  we  have  before  our  eyes.  Although  defective 
in  many  places,  in  the  part  which  we  are  concerned  with  it  is 
almost  entire,  and  enables  us  to  follow  with  security  the  course 
of  his  navigation. 

Some  Spanish  gentlemen,  with  Don  Ferdinand  de  Andrada 
at  their  head,  formed  an  association  for  the  exploration  of  the 
river  discovered  by  John  Diaz  de  Solis,  and  applied  to 
the  government  for  the  necessary  approval.  This  was  given, 
with  an  obligation  annexed  that  the  expedition  should  also  go 
in  search  of  John  Cartagena  and  the  French  priest  whom  Fer- 
dinand Magellan  had  deposed  and  abandoned  at  the  strait 
which  afterwards  took  his  name.f  Diego  Garcia  was  placed  at 
the  head  of  this  expedition. 

*  "  This  expedition,  under  the  command  of  the  Portuguese,  was  hastily  got 
up  to  watch  his  movements,  and  probably  to  act  in  concert  with  the  disaf- 
fected, with  an  understanding  as  to  certain  points  of  rendezvous  in  case  the 
mutineers  should  gain    the  mastery  .  .  .  ."—Lib.  i,  cap.  xvii,  p.  128. 

f  "El  conde  D.  Hernando  de  Andrada  y  otros  se  ofrecieron  de  hacer  una 
armada,  y  embiarla  a  la  parte  del  Mar  Oceano  Meridional.  ...  en  la  parte  que 
dezian  el  Rio  de  la  Plata  y  aviendo  canitulado  con  el  rey,  se  concertaron  que 
Ilevasse  a  su  cargo  esta  armada  Diego  Garcia,  vezino  de  la  villa  de  Monguer, 


garcia's  expedition.  217 

The  expedition  sailed  from  the  port  of  Coruima,  where 
it  was  fitted  out ;  left  Cape  Finisterre,  according  to  Garcia's 
narrative,  on  the  15th  of  January,  1526;  according  to  Herrera's 
history  the  15th  of  August  of  that  year.*  The  difference  be- 
tween the  two  dates  is  enormous,  and  the  preference 
would  naturally  be  given  to  Garcia's  authority.  But  as  Diego 
Garcia  sailed  from  Corunna  to  the  Canaries  to  victual  his 
vessels,  and  sailed  from  the  Canaries  according  to  his  own  ac- 
count and  Herrera's  on  the  1st  of  September,  it  seems  rather 
difficult  to  believe  that  he  was  seven  months  and  a  half 
taking  in  provisions.  Consequently,  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  in  Garcia's  narrative  there  is  a  mistake  in  the  name  of 
the  month,  and  prefer  Herrera's  date,  as  he  had  other  docu- 
ments by  which  he  might  have  corrected  any  error  in  the 
narrative.  In  mentioning  his  departure  from  the  Canaries 
on  the  first  of  September,  Garcia  calls  attention  to  his  wisdom 
in  choosing  a  season  for  sailing  to  the  southern  lands  of  the 
New  World,  and  contrasts  with  his  vaunted  knowledge  the 
ignorance  of  Sebastian  Cabot,  who  with  all  his  astrology  did 
not  know  the  difference  of  time  in  the  course  of  the  seasons 
there  and  in  the  New  World,  and  consequently  did  not  know 
enough  to  choose  the  proper  season  for  sailing  to  those  parts,  f 
We  have  already  seen  in  its  proper  place  how  unjust  and 
uncalled-for  this  charge  against  Cabot   is,  and  how   foolish 


con  el  qual  se  hizieron  ciertos  capittilos entre  los  quales  fue  ....  que 

....  procurasse  por  todas  las  vias  possibles  de  buscar  a  Ivan  de  Cartagena,  y 
al  clerico  Frances,  que  en  su  conipania  dexo  Hernando  de  Magallanes." — 
Herrera,  Dec  iii,  lib.  x,  cap.  i. 

*  "  Sali  de  la  corniia  que  alii  me  ftie  entregada  la  armada  por  los  oficiales  de 
su  magestad  que  fue  de  mile  quinientos  e  veynte  e  seys  a  quinze  de  enero  del 
an<>  parti  del  Cabo  de  Finisterre." 

Relation  de  Diego  Garcia. 

"Partio  Diego  Garcia a  quinze  de  agosto  de  este  aiio  (1526)  del  Cabo  de 

Finisterre y.  .  .  .salio  de  las  Canarias  a  primero  de  Setiembre."  Herrera, 

Dec.  iii,  lib.  x,  cap.  i. 

f  "  .  .  .  nos  partimos  en  primero  d<-  setiembre  del  dicbo  ano  porque  entonces 
esta  el  sol  en  calma  a  treze  de  setiembre  porque  va  a  hacer  verano  en  la  parte 
que  nos  y  vamos  a  descubrir  .  .  .  y  esta  nave<:acion  no  supo  tomar  Sebastian  ga- 
bot  con  toda  su  astrulngia  tomo  lacontraria  como  ombre  que  no.  .  .  .  nada." 
—From  the  Narrative  of  Diego  Garcia— App.  No.  xxxviii. 


'218  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

and  false  was  Garcia's  boast  of  his  wisdom  ;  and  it  is  not 
necessary  to  add  any  thing  here.* 

From  the  Canaries  he  passed  over  to  the  Cape  Verde  Isl- 
ands, where  he  took  on  more  provisions;f  and  from  there  he 
sailed  towards  Cape  St.  Augustine.;];  Here  he  boasts  again  of  his 
ability  in  overcoming  the  currents  which  are  met  in  that  cross- 
ing, and  derides  the  ignorance  of  Cabot  who  did  not  know 
enough  to  do  the  same.§  But,  as  we  remarked  in  another 
place,  he  does  not  tell  us  how  or  in  what  Cabot  was  at  fault ; 
he  derides  and  passes  on.|  From  Cape  St.  Augustine  he 
sailed  to  Cape  Frio,  thence  to  the  Bay  of  St.  Vincent,  and 
thence  to  the  Plata. T 

On  arriving  at  the  Plata,  he  stopped  his  ships  at  its  mouth, 
and  putting  together  the  brigantine  which  he  took  along  in 
pieces,  he  began  with  that  to  go  up  the  river,  and  so  came  to 
the  harbor  of  San  Salvador  where  Sebastian  Cabot's  ships  were. 
Anthony  Grajeda,  who  was  guarding  them,  at  the  sight  of  the 
brigantine,  thought  it  was  Rojas  and  Rodas  and  Martin  Men- 
dez  who  were  coming  with  sinister  intentions,  and  with  some 
canoes  and  an  armed  boat  advanced  boldly  against  him  ;  and 
they  were  on  the  point  of  battle  when  Garcia  recognizing  Gra- 
jeda, was  aware  that  they  were  Sebastian  Cabot's  men,  and, 
making  himself  known  in  turn,  animosity  and  fear  ceased  on 
either  side.** 


*  See  cb.  xvi. 

f  ".  .  .  .  tomamos  la  derrota  delas  islas  de  cabo  verde  .  .  .  y  alii  tomamos 
mucho  Re  fresco  .  .  .  de  t<>das  las  cosas  que  uvimos  menester  .  .  .  — "  Ibidem. 

%  "Desta  ysla  de  buena  vista  herimos  vela  en  la  buelta  y  demands  del  cabo  de 
san  agostin."—  lb. 

£  ".  .  .estecaminose  ha  da  mvegar  con  grande  resguardo  y  saber  de  raarineria 
porque  ay  grandes  corrientes  que  salen  delos  rrios  de  guinea  que  abaten  los 
navios  ala  vanda  del  uuruester  que  van  corrientes  a  las  yndiasde  castilla  estas 
corrientes  no  supo  tomar  Sebastian  caboto  porque  no  era  marinero  ny  sabia 
navegar." — lb. 

||  See  ch.  xvi.  f  lb. 

**"En  las  islas  de  las  Piedras  surgieron  y  armaron  el  bergantin  que  llevavan 
en  piecas.con  el  qual  fueron  el  rio  arriba  ...  y  ...  vieron  dos  naos  de  Sebastian 
Gaboto,  cujo  Teniente  era  Anton  de  Grajeda,  que  salio  con  ciertas  canoas,  y 
un  batel  armados,  pensando  que  eran  los  dos  hermanos  Rojas  y  Martin  Mendez 

que  ivan  contra  el basta  que  Anton  de  Grajeda  fue  conocido  de  Diego 

Garcia,  yvan  tomando  las  armaspara  llegar  alas  manos  ;  y  al  cabo  conocieron, 
que  era  el  armada  de  Sebastian  Gaboto  .  .  ."  — Herrera,  ibidem. 


GARCIA  JOINS  GRAJEDA.  219 

Grajeda  gave  Garcia  a  festive  reception  and  told  him  the  good 
news  he  had  just  received  of  a  great  victory  gained  by  Cabot 
over  the  Indians  with  the  death  of  more  than  four  hundred 
of  the  latter.*  After  this  Diego  Garcia  returned  to  his  ships, 
and  exchanged  his  largest  ship  for  the  brigantine  of  a  Port- 
uguese. 

I  must  pause  here  to  discuss  the  bargain  at  some  length.  To 
the  reader  it  may  appear  altogether  useless  and  perhaps  a 
stumbling-stone  in  the  narrative  ;  but  it  is  not  so  :  I  rather  ask 
the  reader  to  give  it  his  attention,  for  further  on  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  recall  it,  and  it  will  aid  us  if  we  have  the 
fact  well  present. 

Diego  Garcia's  narrative  from  his  sailing  out  of  Corunna 
harbor  to  his  arrival  at  the  Bay  of  St.  Vincent,  except  the 
two  places  where  he  lays  hold  of  Cabot,  contains  merely  the 
distances  of  the  course  sailed  over,  and  the  geographical  posi- 
tion of  the  different  places,  with  special  mention  of  those 
where  he  renewed  his  supplies,  and  such  as  it  is  so  far,  it 
will  continue  to  the  end.  Only  at  the  Bay  of  St.  Vincent  he 
stops  to  tell  something  else.  On  this  bay,  which  is  in  the  13th 
degree  of  South  Latitude,  had  lived  for  thirty  years  a  Port- 
uguese bachelor  and  he  had  his  son-in-law  with  him. 
Their  occupation  was  hunting  Indians  and  sending  them  to 
Europe  to  be  sold  for  slaves.  Diego  Garcia  landed  on  this  bay  to 
get  fresh  provisions  for  his  ships,  and  remained  here  till  the 
15th  of  January  of  the  following  year,  1527. f  As  was  natural, 


Herrera  almost  always  speak*  of  Diesro  G ireia's  voyage  in  (lie  very  words 
of  the  Litter's  narrative  ;  and  therefore  instead  of  quoting  directly  from  the 
narrative,  I  quote  from  Herrera,  because  in  the  narrative  as  it  has  reached  us 
there  are  many  gaps. 

*  "  .  .  .  nos  hizo  mucha  onrra  dio  nos  nueva  de  su  capitan  general  e  como 
a  quel  dia  avia  visto  una  carta  suya  en  la  qua]  le  avisaba  como  avia  muerto 
mas  de  quatrociento  Yndios  e  que  iba  con  srnn  victoria  por  el  Rio  arriba 
haciendo  guerra  a  los  yndio?."— Die<ro  G-ircia's  narrative. 

t  ".  .  .  .  de  aqui  fuemos  adehinte  e  nlleeamos  al  cabo  de  Bant'  Asrostin  e 
tome  my  navegncion  la  buelta  del  enbo  frio.  .  .  .e  de  aqui  fuemos  a  tomar 
Refresco  en  san  vicente  que  esta  en  xiii  sr  idos  .... 

"  .  .  .  .  alii  estuvimos  hnsta  quinze  de  enero  del  afio  sycuiente  de  xxvii 
e  aqui  tomamos  mucho  refresco  de  came  e  pescado  delas  vituallas  de  la 


220  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

while  here  he  saw  and  became  acquainted  with  the  Portuguese 
bachelor  and  his  son-in-law,  and  had  many  opportunities  of 
talking  with  them.  In  these  conversations  they  came  to  a 
profitable  agreement.  The  Portuguese  had  on  hand  a  fine 
supply  of  800  slaves,  but  the  harvest  was  useless  to  him  for 
want  of  the  means  of  sending  them  to  market  to  Europe. 
The  big  ship  of  100  tons  which  carried  Diego  Garcia  suited 
his  purpose  and  he  offered  to  buy  it.  Diego  accepted  the  offer 
and  the  bargain  was  made.  In  place  of  the  ship  he  sold 
Garcia  bought  a  brigantine  from  the  son-in-law  of  the  Port- 
uguese. 

To  Diego  himself  the  contract  must  have  seemed  atrocious, 
for  he  takes  over  a  page  and  a  half  of  folio  to  discuss  it  and 
argue  that  he  had  not  done  wrong.  His  reasoning  is,  that 
the  ship  on  account  of  her  size  was  wholly  unsuited  for  the 
exploration  he  was  to  make  of  a  river,  and  that  he  had  pre- 
viously told  Don  Ferdinand  de  Andrada  and  his  partners  so 
in  Spain,  and  that  they  only  intended  to  have  her  laden  with 
slaves;  and  he  did  so  because  they  violated  His  Majesty's  orders 
concerning  the  conditions  his  fleet  was  to  have,  and  did  not 
keep  the  agreements  made  and  signed  with  him ;  and  that  he 
had  the  consent  and  approval  of  all  his  officers  for  the  ex- 
change of  his  largest  ship  for  the  brigantine.*  But,  either  there 
was  not  this  approval,  or  if  there  was,  the  enormity  of  the  act 
seemed  to  him  and  his  accomplices  to  render  it  necessary  to 
find  some  pretext  to  color  the  wicked  bargain  in  the  eyes  of 
their  men.  For  it  was  determined  that  Garcia  should  sail  on 
the  large  ship  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Plata,  and  the  brigan- 
tine should  join  him  there  and  make  the  exchange.     Why 


tierra  para  provision  de  nuestra  nave  e  acqua  e  leiia  e  todo  lo  que  uvimos 
menester."  lb. 

*  " este  baehiller  con  sus  yernos  hizieron  con  migo  una  carta  de  flete 

para  que  la  truyese  en  espana  con  la  nao  graiule  oclocienios  esclavos  e 

yo  la  hize  con  acuerdo  de  todos  mys  oficiales.  .  .que  allegando  en  el  Rio  man- 
daremos  la  nao,  porque  la.  .  .  .no  podia  entrar  en  el  rrio  porque  mucbas  vecies 

le  dijo  al  contador  Don  Fernando  e  alos  factores que  aquella  nao  no  podia 

entrar  en  el  rrio  que  her*  miiv  «rrinde  y  ellos  no  quisieron  syno  bacermela  l!e- 
var  carsrada  con  esclavos  e  asy  lo  bize  e  asy  la  mando  cargada  de  esclavos  por- 
que ellos  no  bizieron  ny  me  dV-ron  la  armada  que  su  raagestad  mando  que  me 
diessen  lo  que  con  ellos  yo  tenia  capitulado. .  ."—lb. 


221 

this  delay  in  exchanging?  At  first  sight  it  might  appear  to  be 
because  the  ship  was  excellently  adapted  for  Ocean  naviga- 
tion and  could  not  be  used  for  that  of  the  Plata;  but  Herrera's 
words  give  us  to  understand  otherwise.  He  says  that  Diego 
Garcia,  when  he  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Plata  and  had 
gone  up  the  river  some  leagues  with  a  brigantine,  coming 
back  to  his  ships,  "determined  to  exchange  the  largest  below 
the  river,  saying  that  it  was  in  great  danger  from  the  squalls 
which  occurred  at  that  season,  making  that  a  pretext  for  profit- 
ing by  the  freight,  which  the  Portuguese  bachelor  had  paid 
him  for  the  transport  of  the  800  slaves  that  he  had  agreed  with 
him  to  carry  to  Portugal:  and  to  give  color  to  this  cupidity,  he 
said  that  he  had  protested  to  Count  Ferdinand  de  Andrada 
that  this  ship  should  not  have  been  given  him,  because  it  was 
very  large  and  of  no  use  for  the  navigation  and  discovery  of 
the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  and  not  according  to  the  agreement  with 
the  king;  and  so  the  ship  was  then  taken  to  the  port  of  St.  Vin- 
cent to  take  on  the  slaves."  *  Then  the  men  of  the  expedition 
would  know  nothing  of  the  bargain  concluded  at  St.  Vincent, 
if  the  squalls  which  they  met  on  entering  the  Plata  were  put 
forward  as  the  reason  for  the  exchange.  And  see  how  all  the 
circumstances  unite  to  prove  the  fraud  and  artifice  of  Diego 
Garcia's  conduct.  Cabot  on  arriving  at  the  Plata  entered  it  at 
once  with  all  his  ships:  Garcia  ascended  it  with  a  brigantine 
for  about  thirty  leagues  for  a  trial.  Why  ?  In  order  that 
on  his  return  he  might  be  able  to  say  that  the  large  ship 
would  be  in  great  danger  in  that  navigation,  and  it  was  nec- 
essary to  make  an  exchange.  It  had  been  settled  at  St.  Vin- 
cent that  the  exchange  should  be  made  for  a  brigantine,  but 
some  excuse  wTas  required  for  the  opportune  presence  of  the 

*"  Bolviose  Diego  Garcia  a  sus  naos  y  determino  de  embiar  la  rr^or  fuera 
del  rio,  diziendo  que  estava  en  gran  peligro  de  las  Gurupadas,  que  en  aqnel 
tiempo  avia:  toman  dolo  por  ocasion  para aprovecharse  del  flete,que  le  avia  rie 
pagar  el  Baehiller  Portugues  por  el  porte  de  ochocientos  esclavos,  que  avia 
concertado  de  traerle  a  Portugal:  y  para  dar  color  a  esta  codicia  dixo  que  avia 
protestado  al  Conde  don  Fernando  de  Andrada  que  no  le  diesse  esta  nave, 
porque  era  muy  grande  e  inutil  para  la  naveeracion,  y  descubrimiento  del 
rio  de  la  Plata,  y  contra  lo  capitulado  con  el  Rey  ;  y  assi  se  fue  luego  la  nao 
al  puerto  de  San  Vicente  a  cargar  los  escluvos." — Herrera,  1.  c. 


222  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

brigahtine  without  exciting  suspicion.  And  a  pretext  was 
found  in  the  bachelor's  son-in-law,  whom  Diego  Garcia  said  he 
was  taking  as  interpreter  on  his  voyage.  Really,  any  one 
that  reflects  on  it  must  think  it  very  odd  to  take  an  interpreter 
at  St.  Vincent  for  wholly  new  countries  twenty-one  degrees 
further  south.  But  a  captain's  authority  can  make  very  un- 
reasonable things  pass  for  probable.  It  was  therefore  settled 
that  this  son-in-law  should  go  with  them  as  interpreter,  and 
should  join  them  with  a  brigantine  at  the  mouth  of  the  Plata. 
There  might  be  a  good  deal  said  on  this  point  too  ;  for  it  is 
rather  strange  that  the  interpreter,  instead  of  going  at  once  on 
board  of  the  ships  with  them,  should  make  a  voyage  by  him- 
self of  twenty-one  degrees  to  join  them.  But  as  we  know  not 
how  the  matter  was  colored,  it  only  remains  for  us  to  mention 
it,  and  pass  on.  Lo  !  now,  all  seems  chance  and  luck.  The 
squalls,  the  too  large  ship,  the  brigantine  providentially  ar- 
riving in  the  nick  of  time  :  and  so  the  exchange  must  ap- 
pear to  everybody  fair  and  reasonable. 

The  exchange  made,  Diego  Garcia  took  all  his  ships  to  the 
spot  where  Cabot's  were,  and  anchored  alongside  of  them. 
Then  with  two  brigantines  and  sixty  men  he  proceeded  tow- 
ards the  Parana  ;  and  so  he  came  to  Fort  San  Espiritu,  which 
was,  as  has  been  said,  merely  a  house  thatched  with  straw  and 
put  as  far  as  possible  in  a  state  of  defence  under  the  orders  of 
Captain  Gregory  Caro.  Diego  Garcia  had  been  very  friendly 
with  Grajeda  at  Fort  San  Salvador,  seeing  him  with  two  ships, 
and  a  considerable  armed  force  ;  but  when  he  sawr  what  a  mean 
hut  Fort  San  Espiritu  was,  and  how  few  men  were  there  on 
guard,  he  assumed  the  tone  and  airs  of  a  conqueror,  and  sum- 
moned Caro  to  give  up  the  fort  to  him,  saying  that  the  explor- 
ation of  the  River  de  La  Plata  had  been  entrusted  to  him.  Caro, 
as  a  frank  and  loyal  officer,  answered  "that  he  held  the  place 
in  the  name  of  his  Majesty  and  Cabot ;  but  in  all  else  was 
ready  to  do  him  any  service  in  his  power."  This  resolute  an- 
swer silenced  at  once   Garcia's  arrogance.*    Coming  thus  into 


*"Haliamos  alii  un  gregorio  euro  e  1«  requ<  rimos  que  se  fuese  de  aqu<il;i 
conquista  porque  uo  hera  suya,  eel  nos  Responclio  muy  bieu,  dijo  que  todolo 


GARCIA  AT  SAN  ESPIRITU.  223 

friendly  relations,  Caro  told  Garcia  there  was  a  rumor  among 
the  Indians  that  Cabot,  who  was  a  good  way  up  the  river, 
had  met  with  a  severe  defeat  by  the  Indians,  with  the  loss 
of  many  of  his  men,  and  therefore  if  Garcia  continued  on  up 
the  river  he  begged  him  to  ransom  the  Spaniards  he  should 
find  captured  by  the  natives,  and  he  would  repay  the  price  of 
their  ransom  ;  and,  if  he  found  that  Sebastian  Cabot  was  dead, 
not  to  abandon  him  in  that  place.* 

Now  see  the  boast  Garcia  durst  make  of  his  navigation 
from  Fort  San  Espiritu  to  Port  St.  Ann  !  We  are  in  that  long 
tract  of  the  river  in  which  is  the  island  of  New- Year's,  where 
Cabot  was  obliged  to  stop,  to  fall  upon  the  Indians,  who 
were  either  muttering  rebellion  or  had  already  revolted,  in  his 
rear.  Cabot  would  naturally  ascend  the  river  step  by  step,  be- 
cause the  road  was  altogether  new,  and  it  was  therefore  neces- 
sary to  examine  every  spot,  treat  with  the  Indians,  quiet  their 
suspicion,  gain  their  affection,  awe  them  or  fight  them,  as  the 
case  might  require  ;  all  this  must  needs  consume  much  time. 
Garcia,  on  the  contrary,  had  the  way  already  opened,  the  river 
safe,  because  already  examined  by  Cabot's  ships,  no  danger 
from  the  inhabitants,  because  they  were  held  in  awe  by  Cabot's 
forts  and  the  memory  of  his  weapons  ;  so  that  Garcia  could 
move  with  safety  and  at  his  ease.  With  all  this  difference  in 
circumstances  Diego  Garcia  has  the  boldness  to  brag  that  he 
travelled  in  only  27  days  over  what  took  Cabot  five  months^ 


obedecia  e  que  stavan  en  aquelln  cas-i  por  »u  masestad  e  por  Sebastian  gavoto 
e  que  estava  a  mi  servicio."    Die^o  Garcia's  narrative. 

•"e  dio  nos  nuevas  de  su  capitan  que  le  habian  diclio  los  yndios  como  el 
capitan  sebastian  gavoto  hera  arriba  desbaratado  e  muerto  mucba  crentey  que 
me  rrogava  que  si  albino  hallase  por  aquella  parte  donde  yva  descubriendo  que 
lo  Rcscatase  que  el  me  pa-aria  e]  Restate  e  que  se  encnmendaba  mi  merced 
que  sy  fuese  su  capitan  muerto  que  no  lo  dejase  en  e]    Rio  que  lo  saoase"— lb. 

Ilerrera  by  an  oversight  has  channel  Sebastian  Cabot's  rout  into  a  victory  : 
-"que  si  subiesse  porel  rio,  proeurasse  de  reseatarl  <>^  Cast  -llanos  que  ballast 
)  resos,  porque  aunquesabia  que  Sebastian  Gaboto  avia  desbaratado  loslndios, 
era  impossible  que  no  huviessen  peliirrado  algunos  ;  y  que  el  pagariaelrescate, 
V  que  si  hallasse  muerto  a  Sebastian  Gaboto,  le  rogava  que  nolo  dexasse  alii 
— •"  Dec.  iii,  lib.  x,  rap.  i. 

T  'De  alii  me  parti  viernes  Santo  por  la  maiianay  en  veinte  esiete  diasanduve 
tanto  quanto  auduvo  Sebastian  caboto  en  cinco  meses."      From  bis  narrative. 


224  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

There  is  nothing  surprising  in  such  a  stupid  boast  coining 
from  a  conceited  braggart  like  Diego  Garcia  ;  what  surprises 
us  is  that  a  grave  historian  like  Herrera  should  pick  up  even 
this  stone  to  throw  at  Cabot.  * 

A  hundred  leagues  beyond  the  fort  of  San  Espiritu,  Diego 
Garcia  joined  Sebastian  Cabot  at  the  port  of  St.  Ann,  which, 
as  set  down  by  Garcia  himself,  is  in  28°  South  Latitude. f 
Besides  the  testimony  we  have  seen  from  Ramirez,  Diego  Gar- 
cia's own  narrative,  although  very  worn  in  this  place,  shows 
that  Cabot's  defeat  occurred  higher  up.  J  We  must  then  sup- 
pose that  Cabot  retreated  to  St.  Ann  after  his  loss,  to  recuperate 
under  the  friendship  of  the  good  Prince  Yaguaron. 

Of  his  meeting  with  Sebastian  Cabot,  Garcia  does  not  give 
one  word,  but  Ramirez  has  something  on  the  subject.  The 
Portuguese  fleet  which  was  rumored  among  the  Indigenes  to 
be  coming  up  the  River  de  Solis,  the  report  of  which  had  been 
one  of  the  causes  of  Cabot's  retiring,  turned  out  to  be  only 
Diego  Garcia's  brigantine.  The  doubt  and  alarm  were  quickly 
turned  to  joy  when  they  saw  their  brethren,  and  it  was  at  once 
proposed  that  they  should  unite,  and  with  abundant  supplies 
ascend  the  river  :  but  for  whatever  reason,  the  good  intention 
was  not  carried  out;  and  the  two  captains,  separating,  followed 
each  his  own  course  on  returning. § 

Cabot,  on  arriving  at  Port  San  Salvador,  put  a  caravel  un- 
der sail,  and  with  her  sent  two  of  his  officers,  Ferdinand  Cal- 
deron  and  George  Barloque,  to  the  Emperor.  It  seems  that 
in  his  coiLste"1!  loss  of  men,  and  the  condition  of  his  expedi- 


*  Doc.  iii,  lib.  x,  cap.  i. 

f'Llegaron  cien  leguas  mas  arribadela  casafuerte  al  puerto  de  Santana,que 
»sl  'liuno  Sebastian  Gaboto,  adonde  le  mataron  hasta  veynticinco  hombres.  " 
Herrera,  ib. 

"y  este  rio  esta  en  xxviii  grades  y  esta  de  Santa  Ana  que  hasta  aqni  des- 
cu brim os."  Dieeo  Garcia's  narrative. 

t"e  desenbrio  Sebastian  irabotoe  hasta  nueve  leguas  por  el  paraguay  arriba  e 
de  aqui dos  lugores  le  mataron  la  primera  gente que  traya " 

The  text  is  very  worn  here. 

§  "  hasta  al  Parana,  donde  encontraron  otra  armada  del  emperador,  cujo 
capitan  Diego  Garcia  de  Moguer,  trato  de  unirse  a  nuestra  armada  para  volver, 
bien  pertrechados  a  la  dicha  sierra  ;  p<>r  al  tin  no  liubo  convenioentre  a  los  gen- 
erales,  siguiendo  cada  cual  rumbo  distinto."— Ramirez,  1.  c. 


GARCIA  MEETS  CABOT.  225 

tion  growing  daily  more  desperate,  he  had  sustained  him- 
self with  the  hope  of  reaching  the  treasures  of  La  Plata,  and 
thus  accompanying  the  news  of  his  stopping  on  that  river 
with  the  dazzling  announcement  of  those  riches.  The  Span- 
ish people  and  government,  in  that  case,  would  have  over- 
looked the  failure  of  his  expedition,  and  even  blessed  his  decis- 
ion to  cut  it  in  halves-  And  he,  far  from  sinking  in  public  es- 
teem, would  have  gained  an  increase  v>f  respect  and  authority. 
But  his  defeat  had  rendered  it  absolutely  impossible,and  the  re- 
fusal of  Diego  Garcia  took  from  him  his  only  means  of  suc- 
ceeding ;  and  he  then  decided  to  send  to  Spain  to  reoort  to 
the  government  the  state  of  affairs,  and  to  ask  for  aid. 

He  gave  the  two  officers  a  letter  for  the  Emperor,  in  which 
lie  explained  the  sad  events  of  the  voyage,  and  the 
causes  which  had  made  him  cut  it  short.  He  spoke  of 
his  determination  to  explore  the  river  discovered  by  Solis, 
of  the  different  provinces  he  had  already  been  through, 
and  of  the  different  races  of  people  dwelling  in  them,  and  how 
great  wealth  could  be  got  from  them  ;  and  asked  for  men  and 
means  for  colonizing  the  territory.  In  support  of  his  account 
and  of  his  demands,  he  caused  some  Indians  and  various 
specimens  of  the  products  of  the  land  to  be  taken  on 
board,  with  samples  of  silver,  a  little  gold,  and  other  metals.* 


*"y  aviendose  topadocon  el  (Garcia  con  Cabot  .),  se  bolvi  r>n  juntos  adonde 
esttiva  Gregorio  Caro  :  y  de  alii  Sebastian  Gaboto  escrivio  al  Rev,  dandole 
cuenta  oe  su  viage  :  y  ia  causa  porque  no  avia  continuado  la  navegacion  a  la 
Especieria  :  y  de  Lis  miichas  provincial  que  avia  descubierto  en  aquel  rio  de 
la  Plata,  y  diversas  generaciones  de  Yndios  que  avia  en  aquella  tierra,  del 
qua]  se  podia  esperar  de  sucar  muy  grandes  riqiiezas  :  y  con  esta  relacion 
embio  al  contador  Hernando  Calderon,  y  a  Jorge  Baroque".  Traxeron  en  urio 
de  sus  navios  algunos  Yndios  y  muestraa  de  lo  que  avia  en  la  tierra,  y  plata,  y 
algun  oro,  y  otros  metales,  pidiemio  gente,  y  licencia  para  poblar." 

Herrera,  Dec.  iv,  lib.  i,  cap.  i. 

—  "  mandan  a  Espana  a  Nersi  Calderon  y  Rosel  Barco  con  una  carabda  y 
algunos  presentes  de  oro  y  plata,  para  que  expongano  a  S.  M.  las  necesidades 
de  la  armada  y  nianden  pro  veer  lo  necesario."  —Ramirez,   App.  xxxvii. 

Tiie  difference  in  the  two  officers'  names  is  not  so  likely  owing  to  a"*mistakc 
in  copying  as  it  is  to  the  difficulty  iu  making  out  the  original  letter  of 
Ramirez. 

I  15 


226  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

Cabot's  Return  to  Spain. 

At  the  end  of  October  in  that  year  (1528)  the  two  officers 
appeared  in  Toledo,  and  made  known  their  mission  to  the  Em- 
peror.* The  idea  of  colonization  was  very  well  received,  and 
the  Merchants'  Company  of  Seville  was  invited  to  share  in 
the  expense  that  would  be  incurred.  But  both  then  and  after- 
wards, in  spite  of  all  solicitation,  the  merchants  refused  all  fur- 
ther contributions.  The  failure  of  their  project  of  trade  with 
the  Moluccas,  made  them  hostile  to  any  proposal  with  which 
Sebastian  Cabot  was  connected.  +  Then  the  Emperor,  whose 
hopes  had  been  raised  by  the  report  of  the  officers  and  the 
sight  of  the  objects  which  they  brought  as  samples,  assumed 
the  entire  cost  himself,  and  gave  strict  orders  that  it  should 
be  provided  at  once,  it  being  too  important  to  secure  imme- 
diate possession  of  lands  already  of  vast  extent,with  the  prom- 
ise of  still  more  if  the  possession  of  the  first  was  secured. X  But 

*  Hrrrera,  Dec.  iv,  lib.  i,  cap.  i.  The  edition  consulted  by  me  gives  the  year 
as  1527  ;  but  this  is  an  evident  error,  whether  an  oversight  of  Herrera's  or  a 
mistake  in  printing. 

t  "y  porque  los  armadores  avian  gastado  su  parte  en  aquella  armada  (que 
no  avia  ydo  a  la  Especeria,  que  era  el  flu  con  que  lo  avian  hecho)  y  era  justo 
que  no  perdies-en  el  gasto,  les  mandio  embiar  la  copia  de  quanto  Sebastian  Ga- 
boto  escrivia,  para  que  si  quisiessen  embiar  el  socorro  que  pedia  platicassen  so- 
bre  ello,  para  part  icipar  del  provecho,  donde  no,  le  avisassen  porque  su  Majes- 
tad  estava  determinado  de  mandar  hazer  el  gasto  para  este  socorro  por  entero, 
quando  los  armadores  no  lo  qui-iessen  por  su  rata.  .  .Los  armadores  de  Sevilla 
en  todo  esto  afio  se  resolvieron  en  no  hazer  lo  que  el  Rey  pedia,  porque  avian 
gastado  mas  de  diez  mil  ducados  y  no  esneravan  Men  del  provecho  que  ofrecia 
Sebastian  Gaboto."     Herrera,  Dec.  UT,  lib.  i,  cap.  i. 

f'En  Sevilla  se  hazia  por  orden  del  Rey  gran  diligencia  para  que  los  arma- 
dores de  los  navios  que  llevo  Sebastian  Gaboto  contribuyessen  en  el  gasto  del 
socorro,  que  se  avia  determinado  que  se  le  embiasse  al  rio  de  la  Plata:  y  porque 


THE  SEVILLE  COMPANY  REFUSES  AID.  227 

the  imperial  will  encountered  an  obstacle  stronger  than  all 
his  power.  Just  at  this  time  his  financial  distress  was  extreme. 
At  war  with  the  Pope,  with  France,  and  with  Venice,  he  had 
armies  everywhere  ;  and  in  face  of  the  enormous  expense  of 
arming  and  maintaining  such  hosts,  his  ordinary  revenues 
were  exhausted,  and  the  courts  of  Castile  firmly  refused  to 
grant  him  extraordinary  subsidies.*  Meanwhile  the  armies 
were  mutinous  and  threatening,  because  their  pay  was  in  ar- 
rears :  and  the  only  expedient  to  quiet  them  was  to  deliver  the 
property  and  persons  of  the  wretched  populations  to  their  fury 
and  greed.  Let  it  suffice  to  recall  the  soldiery  of  the  Con- 
stable de  Bourbon  and  the  pillage  of  Rome.  It  was  precisely 
at  this  time  of  extreme  pressure  that  Charles  V  made  the  sale 
of  the  Moluccas  to  Portugal,  as  related  above,  notwithstanding 
the  cries  of  wrath  and  sorrow  raised  throughout  Spain,  f 

In  this  state  of  affairs,  instead  of  providing  for  further 
expenses,  it  was  much  to  carry  on  the  most  urgent  public 
service  of  permanent  necessity.  So  days  went  by,  and 
weeks,  and  months,  and  nothing  was  put  aside  for  the  cost  of 
the  La  Plata  colonization. 

Here  would  be  a  fit  place  to  stop  awhile  to  consider  Cabot's 
operations  on  the  Plata,  and  his  letter  to  the  Emperor  would 
be  our  best  guide.  But  unfortunately  this  is  either  lost  al- 
together or  lies  hid  among  the  archives  of  Spain.  The  chart 
which  he  made  of  that  country,  and  which  would  at  least 
have  furnished  great  aid  in  tracing  his  route  and  the  extent 
of  his  exploration,  is    also  lost.   Hence  we  are   confined  to 


se  resolvieron  de  no  gastar  mas  en  aquella  empresa,  el  Rey  mando  que  se 
hiziessen  las  provisiones  a  costa  de  la  Real  bazienda  ;  y  por  mucho  que  se  en- 
tendia  que  convenia  embiar  a  quel  socorro,  para  conservar  el  dominio  de 
docientas  leguas  de  tierra  que  se  avian  descubierto  ..."  Id.  Dec.  iv,  lib.  viii, 
cap.  12. 

*  Robertson,  Hi<t,  of  Charles  V.    Book  v.  Feb.  11,  1527. 

f  "El  Rey  de  Portugal  .  .  .  bolvio  allevar  el  negocio  p<>r  otro  camino  aprove- 
chandose  de  la  necessidad  en  que  vio  die  estava  el  Emperador  de  dineros  .  .  . 
cu  Zaragoea  a  veynte  y  dos  de  Abril  deste  anno  (1529)  los  mesmos  Commis- 
sarios  celebraron  carta  de  venta  .  .  .  con  pacto  de  retrovendendo  perpetuo  por 
precio  de  trezientos  y  cincuenta  mil  D  i<ad>s"  — Herrera,  Dec.  iv,  lib.  v,  cap. 
x. 


228  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

the  few  notices  gathered  here  and  there  in  the  Spanish  his- 
torians as  our  only  guides  in  following  his  labors  and 
enterprise.  This  chart,  according  to  the  testimony  of  Eden, 
showed  that  "From  the  mouth  of  the  river,  Cabot  sayled 
up  the  same  into  the  lands  for  the  space  of  three  hundreth 
and  fiftie  leagues  as  he  writeth  in  his  own  Garde."*  Ramusio 
is,  therefore,  mistaken  in  saying  600. f  Herrera  gives  a  long 
list  of  the  populations  discovered  by  Cabot,  and  ends  by 
saying  that  he  omits  the  names  of  27  others,  differing  in 
name,  language,  and  customs,  for  fear  of  being  tedious.^  He 
says  nothing  in  particular  of  any  of  them,  except  the  Gua- 
ranis,  who  were  the  principal  race  of  Indians  in  those  regions  ; 
so  that  we  are  unable  to  form  even  an  approximate  idea  of 
their  importance  :  but,  even  supposing  that  many  of  these 
populations  were  small  in  number  and  occupied  no  great  ex- 
tent of  territory,  still  taken  all  together,  with  their  different 
customs  and  language,  they  must  have  extended  over  a  vast 
region,  and  the  work  of  exploration  among  them  performed 
by  Sebastian  Cabot  must  have  been  immense.  When,  a  few 
years  later,  a  dispute  arose  between  Spain  and  Portugal  for 
the  possession  of  some  of  the  regions  of  the  La  Plata,  Spain 
brought  forward  a  long  enumeration  of  tribes,  its  rights  over 
which  it  defended  on  the  ground  that  Sebastian  Cabot 
had  built  forts  on  their  lands,  exercised  there  civil  and 
criminal  judicature,  and  brought  those  populations  under  the 
authority  of  the  Spanish  sovereigns.!  His  efforts  to  ascertain, 
as  far  as  possible,  the  condition  of  the  tribes  and  lands  farther 
in  the  interior,  are  attested  by  the  information  he  gives 
on  the  invasion  of  the  Guaranis  in  Peru,  and  that  which 
he  obtained  from  them  regarding  that  rich  country.) 

*Eden  Dec.  fol.  316. 

t  "  lo  volsi  navigare  (La  Plata),  et  andai  all'  insu  per  quello  piu  di  seicento 
leghe."  App.  xix. 

\  "  Passados  estos  ay  veynte  y  siete  naciones  d  nobres,  y  lenguas,  y  ccsi 
diferentesritos,  quepor  no  dar  molestia  se  dexan  de  nombrar."     Herrera,  1.  e. 

S  "  Que  Sebastinn  Gaboto  avia  edificado  en  aquellas  tierras  fortalezas  e  ex- 
ercitado  iusticia  civil  y  criminal,  y  traido  a  la  obediencia  Real  todas  las 
sobredichas  generaciones."  Herrera.  Dec.  iv,  lib.  viii,  cap.  ii. 

|  "  Y  aviendo  hecbo   Sebastian    Gaboto  la  paz  con  esta  generacion  .... 


EXTENT  OF  CABOT  S  EXPLORATION.  229 

Of  the  experiments  made  in  cultivating  the  soil,  we  need 
no  testimony  to  assure  us,  considering  that  Cabot  had 
entered  that  river  on  account  of  his  want  of  provisions,  and 
therefore  was  under  absolute  necessity  of  obtaining  from  the 
soil  the  means  not  otherwise  procurable.  But  we  have  express 
record  of  it  in  Gomara  and  Eden.*  Herrera  speaks  of  it,  re- 
lating the  marvellous  productiveness  of  some  animals 
brought  there  from  Europe. f  Sebastian  Cabot  himself  refers 
to  it  in  the  legend  or  inscription  which  he  affixed  to  those 
places  in  his  chart  of  1544.  We  have  already  mentioned  this, 
when  speaking  of  the  great  distress  to  which  his  men  had 
been  reduced  ;  but,  as  it  is  short,  it  will  be  well  to  gi\a  the 
inscription  here  in  full.  "The  people,"  he  says,  "on  reaching 
this  land,  wanted  to  know  if  it  was  fertile,  and  fitted  for  the 
cultivation  of  grain,  and  in  the  month  of  September,  they 
sowed  52  grains  of  corn,  which  was  all  they  could  find  in  the 
vessels,  and  in  the  month  of  December,  they  gathered  from 
them  two  thousand  and  fifty  grains  ;  and  the  same  fertility 
was  found  with  all  other  seeds."  f 

Of  his  method  of  acting  towards  the  Indians,  we  can 
only  glean  a  hint  here  and  there  in  the  Process.  To  the 
charge  of  wilfully  remaining  in  La  Plata,  he  opposes 
ten  witnesses  who  testify  that  he  never  undertook  any  thing 
of  importance  without  first  consulting  his  officers.  One 
of  the  witnesses,  whose  charge  it  had  been  to  call  the  officers 
to  these  consultations,  firmly  asserts  that  this  was  done  both  at 
sea  and  during  their  residence  on  shore.§  The  28th  interrog- 


con  el  amistad  destos  supo  muchos  secret os  de  la  tierra,  y  buvo  de  ellos 
oro  y  plata  de  la  que  trayan  del  Peru."  Herrera,  ib.  ib. 

*  Gomara,  cap.  lxxxix.—  Eden,  fol.  255-317.  f  Herrera,  ib.  ib. 

^".  .  .la  gente  en  llegado  aq  11a  terra  qniso  connoscer  si  era  fertil,  y  aparejada 
para  Library  llevar  pan  y  senbraron  en  el  mes de  setiembre  lii  £>ranos  de  tigro 
q  no  se  alio  mas  enlas  uaos  y  cogiero  lueso  enel  mes  de  deziembre  cinquenta 
y  dos.  mill  granos  de  tigro,  q  esta  misma  fertilitad  se  hallo  en  todas  las  otras  se- 
millas."  V.  App.  No.  xxxix. 

§  "  Yten  si  saben  quel  dicho  Sebastian  caboto  ...  no  faziacosa  alsruna  sin 
que  primero  lo  consultase  con  los  capitanes  e  oficiales  .  .  ."V  Pregunta  de  la 
Probanca  de  Seb.  Caboto.  All  the  witnesses  answer  it  in  the  affirmative.  The  ix, 
the  one  referred  to  in  the  text,  deposes  :  "todas  las  cosas  que.  .  .  hazia  lo  hazia 
con  acuerdo  de  los  oficiales   .    .    .    por  queste  testigo  por  mandado  del  dicho 


230  THE  LIFE  OP  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

atory  speaks  of  his  great  diligence  as  well  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  expedition  as  in  laboring  to  provide  for  all 
its  wants.  The  29th  shows  equal  diligence  and  care  in 
relation  to  the  Indians  whom  he  wished  every  one  to  respect 
and  treat  with  kindness,  and  the  nine  witnesses  called  unani- 
mously confirm  the  truth  of  the  interrogatory.  And  while  he 
was  solicitous  for  their  welfare,  he  was  equally  severe  if 
they  were  wanting  in  their  duty  and  took  advantage  of  the  Ind- 
ian's simplicity  and  feebleness.  We  have  seen  the  fate 
which  Francis  de  Lepe  met  in  Paraguay  for  attempting  to 
incite  his  companions  to  mutiny  and  rebellion.*  The  same 
fate  befell  one  Martin  of  Biscay,  one  of  those  left  in  the  Bay 
of  Saint  Catharine  from  the  ship  of  Don  Rodrigo  de  Acufia 
in  Loaysa's  expedition,  and  who  afterwards  joined  Cabot's 
fleet.  This  Martin,  accustomed  to  going  about  freely  amongst 
the  Indians  of  that  bay,  with  no  other  restraint  than  his  own 
discretion,  found  it  hard  to  submit  to  the  regular  discipline  of 
the  expedition  ;  and  when  on  the  Parana,  suffering  from 
hunger,  he  joined  a  companion  from  his  own  province, 
and  both  together  entering  an  Indian  cottage,  first  threw  down 
and  beat  the  owner,  then  carried  off  every  thing  they  pleased, 
and  finally  seizing  a  canoe  and  forcing  two  Indians  to  row  it, 
they  fled,  and  escaped  by  land  to  another  tribe.  Cabot, 
ascertaining  their  place  of  refuge,  sent  a  band  of  his  own  men 
and  of  Indians  together,  to  take  him  by  surprise,  and  on 
capturing  him,  hanged  him  in  a  summary  fashion,  f  Indeed 
his  severity  went  so  far  that  we,  with  our  customs,  should 
think  it  cruelty  and  barbarity.       To  clear  him  from  such 


capitan  yva  allamar  a  los  dichos  oficiales  para  ello  e  los  vio  platicar  sobre  las 
cosas  que  haviau  de  hazer  ansi  en  la  mar  como  en  la  tierra." 

*  See  ch.  xx. 

f "  Yten  si  saben  quel  dicho  Sebastian  caboto  marido  justiciar  a  dos  ombres 
.  .  .  uno  dellos  entro  en  casa  de  uno  yndio  principal  e  le  ciio  de  palos  e  le  ropa 
todas  las  vestes  que  tenia  que  eran  unos  tirus  de  pano  de  lana  que  viene  de  la 
tierra  dentro  e  una  canoa  e  llevava  dos  yudi<>s  por  fuerca  e  se  yvan  a  unos  in- 
dios  que  beran  nuestros  enemigos  ..."  Preirunta  xxvi  de  la  Probanda  de  Seb. 
Caboto.  The  particulars  indicated  are  by  the  vi,  viii,  &  ix  witnesses  :  the  vi 
says  :  "el  dicho  capitan  general  avia  enviado  aotros  yndios  que  los  traxesen  ;" 
and  theix  "enbio  aciertos  cristianos  e  yndios  trar  el  y  le  traxeron  ..." 


MARTIN,  THE  BlSCAYAN,  HANGED.  231 

stain,  we  must  remember  what  wild  times  those  were,  and  in 
what  a  desperate  condition  he  was,  so  that  he  was  forced 
to  become  unfeeling  in  order  to  make  his  authority  respected 
and  feared.  This  Biscayan,  as  he  was  hoisted  on  the  gallows, 
fell  to  the  ground,  the  rope  around 'his  neck  breaking  ;  when 
raised  up,  in  the  condition  which  may  be  imagined,  he  cried  out 
with  all  his  might :  "Mercy  !  Mercy  I"  Cabot  sent  for  another 
rope  and  ordered  him  again  to  the  gallows.*  Another  who 
was  caught  stealing  public  stores,  and  on  the  point  of  fleeing 
with  what  he  had  stolen,  had  both  ears  cut  off,  as  a  punish- 
ment, and  as  an  example  to  others,  f 

The  small  number  of  men  remaining,  after  deducting  those 
sent  to  Spain  with  the  caravel,  did  not  allow  of  his  extending 
further  his  explorations  and  discoveries  ;  and  his  whole  aim 
now  was  to  keep  the  Indians  in  the  favorable  disposition  to- 
wards the  Spaniards  to  which  he  had  brought  them,  and  to 
prepare  for  the  work  to  be  done  when  the  expected  reenforce- 
ments  should  arrive  from  Europe.  But  his  best-laid  plans, 
the  good  order  maintained  amongst  the  natives  and  the  Span- 
iards, all  the  fruit  of  so  many  labors  and  sufferings  were  de- 
stroyed in  a  moment  by  the  licentiousness  of  a  few  bad  men. 

We  saw  from  Ramirez  that  Cabot  and  Diego  Garcia,  unable 
to  agree  on  a  joint  course  against  the  natives,  took  each  his  own 
way,  that  is  to  say,  each  acted  with  his  own  force  independ- 
ently of  the  other.  The  Guaranis,  among  whom  they  remained 
after  the  peace  concluded  with  Cabot,  endured  the  presence  of 
the  strangers  quietly  and  patiently,  but  the  bad  conduct  of 
Diego  Garcia's  men  aroused  their  spirit  and  restored  their  nat- 
ural ferocity.  We  are  not  told  how  nor  why,  but  it  is  almost 
certain  that  the  trouble  was  about  women,  the  principal  cause 
that  always  brought  ruin  on  so  many  enterprises  of  discov- 
ery.      The  offence  rekindled  in  the  Guaranis  all  their  pride 


*"Oyodecir  quel  dicho  martin  se  avia  eaydo  de  la  horca  o  quebrado  la  ?o<ia 
e  que  avia  demandado  misiricordia  e  que  lo  mando  otra  vez  ahorcar  el  dicho 
capitan  general."  vi  witness. 

t  "  Yten  si  saben  que  hernando  calderon  teniente  del  dicho  Sebastian  caboto 
mando  acotar  a  uno  y  cortalle  las  orejas  por  ladron."  Pregunta  xxvii  de  la 
dicha  Probanca. 


232 


THE  LIFE  OP  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 


and  bravery,  and  they  wanted  revenge.  As  they  made  no 
distinction  among  the  whites,  but  involved  Cabot's  men  in 
the  same  accusation  and  the  same  hatred  with  Garcia's,  they 
swore  their  extermination.  Word  being  sent  around  as  to  the 
day  and  hour,  they  assembled  one  morning  at  daylight  in 
great  numbers,  and  assaulted,  as  it  would  appear,  at  the  same 
moment,  the  forts  of  San  Espiritu  and  San  Salvador,  near 
which  the  ships  were  at  anchor.  They  conducted  the  attack  so 
secretly  that  the  Spaniards,  living  in  perfect  tranquillity  were 
entirely  crushed  by  the  furious  storm  that  burst  suddenly  over 
them. 

As  usual,  we  are  wholly  in  the  dark  as  to  the  details  of 
the  event.  We  are  only  told  that  the  Guaranis'  fury  enabled 
them  to  gain  the  forts  and  reduce  them  to  heaps  of  ashes  : 
that  some  of  the  Spaniards  were  left  there  dead,  and  the  rest, 
finding  themselves  without  the  long-expected  succor,  dimin- 
ished in  number,  in  strength,  and  in  means,  in  the  midst  of  a 
hostile  and  savage  population,  and  without  any  hope  for  the  fu- 
ture, decided  to  embark  and  to  leave.*  But  even  their  depart- 
ure gives  us  a  glance  of  a  frightful  accumulation  of  evils  and 
of  sorrow.  We  shall  soon  hear  him  relate  that  he  left  at  the 
La  Plata  one  of  his  ships  and  a  part  of  his  men,  and  one  of 
the  accusations  against  him  on  his  return  was  precisely  this 
abandoning  of  them.  But  how  did  it  happen  and  why  ?— 
The  charge  naturally  recalls  the  idea  of  blame,  but  nowhere 
in  the  acts  of  the  Process,  which  I  have,  although  very  long  and 
full,  is  there  the  slightest  allusion  to  this  abandonment,  ex- 
cept incidentally  the  simple  mention  by  a  witness  that  he  was 
one  of  those  left  at  the  Plata,  f     It  is  true  that  the  part  of  the 


*"  Mantuvo  Sebastian  Gaboto  dos  annos  el  amistad  de  los  Yndios  Guaranis,  y 
aviendose  quebrado  por  alirunas  ocasiones  que  dieron  los  soldados  que  fueron 
con  Diego  Garcia,  en  que  Sebasian  Gaboto  no  tuvo  culpa,  los  Yndios,  segun  su 
costumbre  hizieron  secretos  llamamientos  de  gentes,  y  dan  do  al  alba  sobre  la 
fortaleza  de  Caboto,  la  quemaron,  y  lo  mesmo  hizieron  de  la  poblacion  que 
avian  hecho  en  el  puerto  qu  ■  Hainan  de  S.  Salvador,  adonde  estavan  los  navios, 
ma  tan  do  alsrunos  Castellanos:  los  quales  vie  n  dose  sin  socorro,  y  conociendo  la 
ferozidad  de  los  Yndios,  tuvieron  por  bien  desamparar  la  tierra  y  bolverse  a  Cas- 
tilla."  Herrera,  Dec.  iv,  lib.  viii,  cap.  12- 

f  "Dixo  que.  .  .  .viniendo  este  testigo  con  una  nao  e  cierta  gente  quel  dicho 


ONE  SHIP  AND  PART  OF  THE  MEN  LEFT  AT  SANTA  MARIA.   233 

acts  which  I  have  refers  to  other  charges  and  not  to  this  one. 
But  seeing  that  his  enemies  are  intent  as  blood-hounds  in 
hunting  every  thing  in  his  conduct,  it  does  not  seem  to  me 
that  if  they  could  lay  hold  of  any  thing  here  they  would  have 
lost  the  opportunity.  Hence  their  silence  is  to  me  a  proof  that 
whatever  cause  or  motive  forced  Cabot  to  abandon  a  part  of  his 
men,  in  determining  to  do  so  he  was  in  no  wise  wanting  in 
his  duty  and  fidelity  as  a  good  captain.  I  am  therefore  of  the 
opinion  that  this  charge  preferred  as  one  of  the  grounds  for 
his  arrest,  was  not  followed  up  when  in  the  course  of  the  proc- 
ess the  circumstances  were  better  understood.  To  explain 
the  fact  of  the  abandonment,  it  occurs  to  me  that  part  of  the 
men  or  one  of  the  ships  may  have  been  so  disabled  by  the  sud- 
den attack  of  the  Guaranis  as  to  be  unfit  to  undertake  with 
the  rest  the  labors  and  fatigue  of  a  long  voyage.  And  as  I 
find  that  at  the  port  of  San  Vincente  these  men  were  regis- 
tered as  left  at  Cape  Santa  Maria,  I  believe  that  Cabot 
brought  all  his  men  down  the  river,  out  of  danger  from  the 
Guaranis,  and  left  them  in  safety  near  Cape  Santa  Maria.  The 
time  that  would  be  consumed  in  this  transportation  explains 
the  delay  in  Cabot's  departure,  which  was  decided  on  in  the 
council  of  officers  on  the  6th  of  October  1529,  and  we  shall 
find  Cabot  on  his  way  to  Port  San  Vincente  only  on  the 
22nd  of  March,  1530,  six  months  after  the  affair  of  the 
Guaranis. 

At  the  bottom  of  Sebastian  Cabot's  proofs  are  two  memorials 
showing  that  at  the  port  of  San  Salvador  he  took  council  with 
certain  officers  of  his  fleet  as  to  what  should  be  done.  A  break 
in  the  text  prevents  our  reading  the  whole  thought  of  Cabot ; 
but  from  the  context  and  what  is  said  in  the  memorial 
following  it  seems  clear  that  it  speaks  of  a  council  held  after  the 
destruction  of  the  two  forts,  in  which  it  was  discussed  whether 
as  matters  were,  it  was  advisable  to  adhere  to  their  former  inten- 
tion, or  to  yield  to  the  force  of  events  and  return  to  Spain.  This 
council  was  held  October  6,  1529  :  hence  there  is  no  doubt  but 

sebaslian  caboto  avia  dexado  perdida  en  el  Rio  de  solis  la  dicha  nao  aporto  al 
puerto  de  los  Patos  .  .  .  ."— vi  witness  to  xxii  Iut.  of  the  proofs  of  Vasquez. 


234  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

the  catastrophe  must  have  happened  in  the  beginning  of  that 
month  or  late  in  the  preceding  September.  Cabot  presented  this 
memorial  in  his  defence.*  The  other  memorial,  which  was  con- 
cisely drawn  up  to  show  His  Majesty  how,  by  whose  fault,  and 
why,  the  fort  of  San  Espiritu  was  lost,  was  prepared  by  Cabot 
October  12, 1529,  six  days  after  the  council  of  officers,  who  fore- 
saw the  storm  that  wTould  be  raised  against  him,  and  prepared 
for  it  the  best  he  was  able.f 

Charlevoix  inserts  in  his  History  that  when  Cabot  departed 
from  the  Plata  he  left  there  a  force  of  120  men  under 
command  of  Nuiio  de  Lara  ;  and  relates  a  series  of  strange  ad- 
ventures growing  out  of  a  violent  passion  which  a  savage 
chief  conceived  for  the  wife  of  one  of  the  principal  officers  of 
the  garrison.  Where  he  obtained  his  information,  he  does 
not  tell  us,  and  if  asked,  could  probably  have  only  indicated 
his  own  fancy.  Here  as  elsewhere,  Charlevoix  labors  to 
produce  a  romance,  not  a  history.  J 

Before  bringing  Cabot  back  to  Spain  we  must  return  to  the 
three  rebels  we  left  at  the  Island  of  Patos.  By  means  of  the 
Portuguese  on  the  coast  of  Brazil,they  made  it  known  in  Spain 
that  they  had  been  abandoned,  and  how  much  they  had  suf- 
fered, and  asked  to  be  allowed  to  appear  before  the  supreme 
council  of  the  Indies  to  defend  themselves  and  show  that  they 
had  been  unjustly  dealt  with.  On  this  petition  Charles  V  or- 
dered Sebastian  Cabot  to  take  up  these  men,  and  either  com- 


*  "  Ay  ciertos  pareceres  que  Sebastian  caboto  tomo  en  el  puerto  de  San 
Salvador  de  algunos  oficiales  del  armada  sobre  lo  que  avien  de  hazer  syguiendo 
el  viaje  ....  presentola  Sebastian  caboto  para  su  disculpa  porque  todos  con- 
cluyen  que  no  se  deve  bazer  tomose  a  seys  dias  de  octubre  de  mill  e  quinieutos 
y  veynte  y  nueve  aiios." 

[Note  the  words  in  the  Spanish  :  todos  concluyen  que  no  se  debe  hazer,  "they 
were  all  of  opinion  that  it  should  not  be  done  :"  i.  e.  continue  the  voyage. 
Tr.] 

f  "  Ay  otra  ynformacion  que  hizo  Sebastian  caboto  sumariamente  para  que 
constase  a  su  magestad  como  y  a  cuya  culpa  y  porque  causa  se  perdio  la  forta- 
leza  de  santi  spiritus  (I  think  something  is  wanting  here  ;  or  else  we  should  read  : 
'and  the  one  he  had  made  at  the  port  of  San  Salvador  ')  que  tenia  hecha  en  el 
puerto  de  San  Salvador  presentola  Sebastian  caboto  tomose  la  dicha  ynforma- 
cion a  doze  del  mes  de  otubre  de  mill  e  quinientos  y  veynte  y  nueve  anos.  " 

X  Charlevoix,  Histoiredu  Paraguay,  lib.  i,  p.  29. 


MENDEZ  AND  RODAS  DROWNED.  235 

ing  himself,  or  sending  a  vessel,  have  them  brought  to  Spain 
that  they  might  be  heard.* 

The  delay  in  sending  out  succor,  prevented  Cabot  from  re- 
ceiving the  Emperor's  orders,  so  that  it  was  of  his  own  accord 
that,  passing  by  the  Isle  of  Patos  on  his  return,  he  stopped  to 
pick  up  the  three  unfortunate  men.  But  great  changes  had  oc- 
curred among  them  in  the  meantime.  We  are  in  the  usual 
darkness  as  to  the  course  of  the  events,  and  only  know  their  re- 
sult, but  this  is  enough  for  our  purpose.  Bitter  hatred  had 
grown  up  between  the  Captain,  Francis  de  Rojas,  on  one  side, 
and  Martin  Mendez  and  Michael  de  Rodas  on  the  other  ;  and 
was  further  inflamed  by  some  of  the  Christians  that  had  re- 
mained in  the  Bay  of  Saint  Catharine  from  Loaysa's  expedi- 
tion, and  especially  one  Michael,  a  Genoese,  who  sided  with 
Mendez  and  Rodas.  f  One  day  that  Rojas  caught  the  Genoese 
in  an  Indian's  cottage,  he  rushed  upon  him  and  stabbed  him  to 
death  ;\  whether  he  killed  him  out  of  brutal  malice,  or  the  Gen- 
oese had  previously  attempted  the  life  of  Rojas  and  the  latter 
wished  to  secure  himself  against  a  repetition  of  the  attempt  by 
relieving  himself  of  too  dangerous  an  enemy.§  The  fact  is 
that  after  this  killing,  Mendez  and  Rodas  became  very  suspi- 
cious and  fearful  of  Rojas,  and  seizing  a  canoe  with  an  Indian 
they  fled  in  it  to  seek  safety  in  the  Bay  of  San  Vincente  where 
there  were  a  number  of  Portuguese.  But  in  the  crossing  the 
canoe  capsized  and  the  three  men  were  drowned.  |     Soon  after, 


*  "Francisco  de  Rojas,  Martin  Mendez  y  Miguel  de  Rodas,  por  via  de  Portu- 
gueses que  estavan  en  la  costa  del  Brasil  avian  echo  saber  al  Rey  el  destierro 
en  que  se  hallavan,  padeciendo  mucho  trabajo  y  necessidad,  suplicando,  que 
se  les  diesse  licencia  para  yrse  a  ptesentar  en  el  supremo  Consejo  de  las  Jndias, 
adonde  mostrarian  quau  sin  causa  avian  sido  puestos  en  aquel  peligro  con 
tanta  afrenta  suya  ;  y  el  Rey  rnando  a  Sebastian  Gaboto,  que  viniendo  o  em- 
biando  qualquier  navio  o  qualquier  capital)  que  viniesse  en  estos  Reynos,  los 
traxessen  para  que  fuessen  oidos  de  justicia."— Herrera,  Dec.  iv,  lib.  iii,  cap.  i. 

f  "oyo  decir. .  .quel  dicho  francisco  de  Rojas  e  martin  mendez  e  miguel  de 
Rodas  avian  tenido  ciertas  diferencia*  sobre  que  los  rebolvian  y  andavan  mal 
metiendo  el  dicho  miquel  srinoves  y  otros  cristianos  questavan  alii."— vi  tes- 
fcigoalaxxvPregunta  de  la  Probanda  de  Caboto. 

X  This  is  said  by  the  10th  witness  of  the  same  interrogatory. 

§  The  6th  and  9th  witnesses  say  so  from  hearsay. 

|"Yten  si  saben  quel  dicho  francisco  de  Rojas  mato  a  miguel  ginoves  a  puna- 


236  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

it  is  not  known  when,  Rojas  also  passed  over  to  the  same  bay. 
At  Patos  Cabot  joined  Diego  Garcia  who  seems  to  have 
arrived  a  little  before  him,  also  doubtless  overcome  by  the 
ruin  brought  on  by  the  licentiousness  of  his  men.*  What 
work  he  did  in  exploring  the  Plata  after  separating  from 
Cabot  we  know  not,  but  it  certainly  amounted  to  nothing ; 
for  he  was  a  man  so  full  of  himself  and  his  deeds  that  he 
could  not  have  failed  to  mention  it.  But  instead  of  that  he 
ends  his  narrative  by  saying  that  he  went  as  far  as  Cabot, 
discovered  as  far  as  Cabot  discovered  :  and  this  is  all  his  claim. 
As  to  what  happened  afterwards  he  is  entirely  silent.  +  From 
Patos  they'  went  together  to  port  San  Vincente,  and  there  on 
Tuesday,  March  22,  1530,  Diego  Garcia  in  the  name  of  Se- 
bastian Cabot  notified  captain  Francis  de  Rojas,  under  pain 
of  life  and  loss  of  all  his  property,  to  appear  within  six  days 
on  board  of  the  ship  Santa  Maria  del  Espinar,  at  anchor  in 
the  harbor  of  San  Vincente,  which  was  at  that  time  the  flag-- 
ship  of  Cabot's  fleet,  to  be  carried  by  Cabot  to  Spain  and 
brought  before  His  Majesty  and  the  royal  council  of  the  Indies 
to  give  an  account  of  his  conduct  while  Captain  of  the  ship 
Trinidad.  I  know  not  why  this  notice  was  given  through 
Diego  Garcia,  and  not  directly  by  Cabot  himself.;):     And  in 


ladas  e  despues  de  muerto  procuio  de  matar  a  los  dichos  martin  mendez  e  a  nii- 
guel  de  Rodas  e  a  hesta  causa  se  hujeron  del  e  se  yvan  al  puerto  de  S.  vincente 
donde  estavan  muchos  p.>rtogueses  e  se  abogaron  eu  el  camino."  xxvi  Inter- 
rogatory of  Cabot's  proofs. 

All  the  witnesses  confirm  the  killing  of  the  Genoese,  and  the  drowning  of 
Mendez  and  Rodas,  but  none  mentions  the  attempts  which  Rojas  also  male  on 
the  life  of  both  the  officers,  his  enemies  :  indeed  the  ix  relates  that  he  had 
heard  that  when  Rojas  learnt  of  their  flight  he  said  he  was  very  sorry  for  it. 

*  'a  qui  llego  Sebastian  caboto  muerto  de  hambre  en  este  tiempo  que  yo 
estaba  alii."  Relation  de  Diego  Garcia. 

f  "  h  ista  aqui  descubrimos  e  descubrio  sebastian  gavoto  .  .  .  .  y  esta  es 
la  verdad  que  llegamos  hasta  aqui  el  e  nosotros." 

i"Io  diego  garcia  capitan  general  por  su  magestad  mando  a  vos  along" 
gomez  varela  escrivano  de  mi  harmada  que  luego  visto  este  rni  mandamieuto 
vayays  a  casa  de  gonzalo  da  costa  portugues  y  notifiqueys  un  mandamiento 
de  parte  del  senor  sebastian  gavoto  capitan  general  por  on  magestad  al  capitan 

francisco   de   Rojas  en  su   persona fecho  en  el  puerto  de   san    vincente 

martes  veynte  y  dos  dias  del  mes  de  marco  de  mill  e  quinientos  e  trenta 
anos  .  .  ." 


ROJAS  REFUSES  TO  GO  BACK  WITH  CABOT.  _J7 

order  that  Rojas  should  not  refuse  to  go  with  him,  under 
the  pretext  that  he  could  not  trust  him,  Cabot  pledged  his 
word  and  faith  that  he  would  present  him  unharmed  before 
His  Majesty  and  the  Council  of  the  Indies,  and  offered  to 
give  him  any  safe-conduct  he  wanted  for  security."*  But 
Rojas  refused  to  recognize  any  authority  of  Cabot  over  him 
after  deposing  and  abandoning  him  on  an  island,  said 
that  Cabot  only  wanted  to  lay  hands  on  him  to  vent  his  spite 
upon  him  for  not  having  died  as  it  was  expected  he  would,  and 
protested  that  he  was  ready  to  appear  before  his  Majesty  with 
any  one  else  who  was  not  under  Cabot's  power.  So  far  the 
conduct  of  Rojas  can  be  understood  and  explained  by  the 
natural  course  of  passion,  but  hearken  to  the  rest  of  his  an- 
swer. He  said  he  was  informed  that  they  had  left  at 
Cape  Santa  Maria  70  or  80  Christians,  and  among  them 
a  captain  and  other  officers  ;  therefore  in  the  name  of  His 
Majesty's  service  he  demanded  that  Cabot  should  give  him  two 
carpenters,  one  calker,  five  or  six  sailors,  his  chief  pilot,  and 
tools,  iron,  powder,  and  whatever  else  was  required  to  lit  out 
a  ship,  which  he  said  he  with  one  Gonzalez,  a  Portuguese,  had 
built,  and  which  Gonzalez  allowed  him  to  use  in  any  way  and 
for  any  purpose  he  pleased  ;  and  he  would  proceed  with  it  to 
Cape  Santa  Maria  to  take  up  those  that  were  left  there.  But  as 
the  ship  was  not  yet  decked  or  calked,  he  needed  what 
he  asked  for.f 


"  Io  Sebastian  gavnto  capitan  general  de  esta  barm  ad  a  por  su  magestad  que 
al  presents  esta  surta  en  este  puerto  de  san  vicente  niando  a  vos  francisco 
de  Rojas  capitan  que  fuystes  en  esta  armada  de  la  nao  trinidad  de  parte  de  su 
magestad  que  veugays  aqui  rientrn  desta  nao  santa  maria  de  lespinar  que  a- 
gora  es  capitana  en  esta  armada  para  que  yo  os  l)iel>e  en  espafia  para  pre- 
sentaros  ante  de  su  magestad  e  de  su  muy  alto  concejo  delas  yndias  para  que 
deys  quenta  y  Razon  de  ciertas  cabsas  que  contra  vos  fueron  puestas  .  .  ." —  v. 
App.  xl. 

*  "e  porque  no  dudeiss  en  la  diclia  vuestra  venida  yo  osprometo  y  doy  mi 
fee  y  palabra  de  parte  de  su  magestad  de  daros  qualquien  seguro  que  vos  qui- 
jerdes  pedir  y  demandar  para  la  seguritad  de  vuestra  persona  hasta  pre- 
sentarosante  de  su  magestad  6  de  su  Real  Cons'j  >  d  lis  Yndias."  In. 

f  "lie  sydo  ynformado  como  quedaron  en  el  cabo  de  santa  maria  basta  setenta 

o  oclienta  cristianos  entre  los  quales  ay  capitan  y  oficiales  de  su  magestad 

pido  y  Requiero. . .  .para aver  de  Redemir  a  questa  gente  dos  carpinteros  y  un 


238  THE  LIFE  OP  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

As  to  the  persons  said  to  have  been  left  at  Cape  Santa 
Maria,  Rojas  undoubtedly  alludes  to  those  Cabot  had  been 
obliged  to  leave  at  the  mouth  of  La  Plata,  as  we  have  related. 
That  Rojas  exaggerates  in  putting  the  number  at  seventy  or 
eighty  seems  to  me  evident,  when  we  consider  the  number 
dead  at  Santa  Catalina,  San  Lazaro,  and  San  Salvador, 
those  that  perished  in  the  long  navigation  of  La  Plata,  those 
killed  with  the  lieutenant  Rifos,  and  the  others  lost  when  the 
two  forts  were  burnt.  To  these  must  be  added  those  previously 
sent  to  Spain  with  the  two  officers  Calderon  and  Barloque, 
and  those  who  were  now  returning  with  Cabot ;  and  it  is  eas- 
ily seen  that  there  could  not  be  still  seventy  or  eighty  re- 
maining out  of  the  two  hundred  who  were  all  he  had  on 
starting.* 

To  this  first  service  Rojas  offered  to  add  another  which 
would  repair  in  the  interest  of  Spain  a  very  serious  blunder, 
or  rather  crime,  committed  by  Cabot.  We  must  dwell  awhile 
on  this  point. 

When,  accompanying  Diego  Garcia  on  his  voyage  to  La 
Plata,  we  reached  the  Isle  of  Patos,  we  said  that  when  he  came 
to  speak  of  that  place,  he  began  with  fresh  fury  to  abuse  the 
name  of  Cabot,  but  merely  mentioning  the  matter  then,  we  re- 
served for  another  place  this  new  impudence.  Here  is  the 
place  to  discuss  it.  Rojas  said,  then,  to  Cabot  :  "They  have  told 
me  that  at  the  Isle  of  Patos  you  took  four  Indians,  which  has 
put  the  whole  country  in  a  state  of  fear  and  agitation  :  now,  as 
this  concerns  the  service  of  His  Majesty,  I  offer  to  carry  back 
those  four  poor  savages  to  their  island,  to  quiet  that  port  and 
have  peace  with  its  inhabitants."  f  We  will  presently  tell  what 


Ciilafate  y  cinco  oseys  marineros  y  el  piloto  Enrique  patimer  pues  no  le  abeys 
menester  por  ser  vos  piloto  mayor  y  asy  mistno  pido  y  Requiero  sefior  Se- 
bastian gaboto  me  deys  hierro  para  que  yo  haja  clavaron  y  otrascosas  de  Res- 
gate  que  para  el  diclio  viaje  hemos  menester  y  quatro  bercos  con  sus  opareios 
e  quantitad  de  poivora. . .  .el  qual  dicbo  nabio  le  falta  de  bazer  la  cubierta  y 
calafatear  Dido  y  Requiero  el  dicbo  senor  Sebastian  gavoto  me  de  lo  que  dicbo 
.  .  .  .  "  See  App.  xl. 

*  See  App.  xli. 

f— "me  an  dicho  que  en  la  ysla  de  la  baja  de  los  patos  tomastes  qmitro 
yndios  por  lo  qual  la  tierra  toda  queda  alborotada  y  atemorizada  y  porque 


FOUR  INDIANS  SEIZED  AT  PATOS.  2o{3 

concerns  Diego  Garcia  in  that  deed  ;  but  first  there  is  this  to  be 
remarked  on  the  score  of  Francis  de  Rojas,  that  immediately 
after  speaking  of  these  four  slaves  taken  by  Cabot  at  Patos,  he 
mentions  that  the  Emperor  had  permitted  the  captains  and  offi- 
cers of  this  expedition  to  take  two  slaves  each  ;  and  as  he  in  his 
character  as  captain  of  one  of  the  ships  had  availed  himself  of 
this  authorization,  he  requested  Cabot  to  take  his  two  slaves 
on  board,  carry  them  to  Spain,  and  consign  them  to  his  heirs. 
If  he  refused,  he  protested  that  he  would  exact  damages  from 
Cabot's  person  and  property.  *  I  do  not  know  of  any  such 
authorization  of  the  Emperor  as  related  by  Rojas,  of  which 
there  is  no  hint  or  mention  anywhere,  but  which  is  in  open 
contradiction  with  the  public  orders  expressly  given  and  re- 
peated by  the  Emperor  to  respect  the  freedom  of  the  Indians. 
But  as  there  are  only  too  many  proofs  that  while  the  public 
orders  said  one  thing,  they  tolerated  privately  another,  I  am 
willing  to  suppose  that  authorization  to  have  been  granted. 
But  this  does  not  diminish  the  impudence  of  Rojas,  who  whilst 
offering  to  repair  the  wrong  done  by  Cabot  in  taking  slaves 
for  himself,  at  the  same  time  protests  against  any  damage  he 
may  receive  from  his  own  not  being  placed  in  safety. 

Let  us  come  now  to  Diego  Garcia.  Narrating  his  arrival  at  the 
Isle  of  Patos  after  leaving  the  Bay  of  San  Vincente  to  proceed 
to  the  Plata,  he  says:  "Proceeding  on  our  way  we  came  to  a  river 
called  the   River  of  los  Patos  ....  they  are  a  good  race  there 

and  do  very  good  work  for  the  Christians here  they  gave 

us  many  victuals.  .  .for  they  were  good  Indians,  and  here  ar- 
rived Sebastian  Cabot  dead  with  hunger  while  I  was  there  ;  and 
the   Indians  gave  him  food  and  all  that  he  needed  for  him- 

cumple  al  servicio  de  su  magestad  .  .  .  me  prefiero  de  poner  los  dichos  yndios 
entregandomelos  vos  en  su  tierra  y  dicho  puerto  y  hacer  pace  con  todos  ellos 

*  "por  quanto  su  magestad  hizo  merced  a  los  capitanes  e  oficiales  dela  dicha 
armada  que  ptidiesen  llevar  y  llevasen  cada  dos  esclavos  per  lo  qual  yo  fran- 
cisco  de  Rojas  capitan  que  fuy  de  una  nao  dela  dicha  armada  pido  y  Requiero 
a  vuestra  merced  el  dicho  Sebastian  gaboto  que  tenga  por  bien  de  me  llevar  los 
dichos  dos  esclavos  los  quales  tengo  aqui  aparejados  <■  que  los  den  e  entreguen 
a  mis  herederos  o  a  quien  en  mi  poder  obiese,  donde  no  que  protesto  delos  co- 
brar  de  vuestra  persona  y  bienes  do  quier  que  se  pudiesen  aver." 


240  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

self  and  his  men  for  their  voyage,  and  when  he  wanted  to  go 
where  he  was  going,  he  took  four  sons  of  the  principal  per- 
sons there  and  carried  them  to  Spain,  and  three  of  them  he  has 
at  Seville,  which  injured  that  port  which  was  the  largest  and 
the  best  people  there  were  in  those  parts,  because  he  took  the 
sons  of  the  principal  persons  of  the  island."* 

How  is  Garcia's  story  to  be  understood  ?  that  Cabot  com- 
mitted this  crime  in  going  or  returning  from  his  expedition  ?  1 
think  there  can  be  no  doubt,  and  all  will  say  it  was  in  going.  In 
fact  Garcia  speaks  of  his  arrival  at  the  Isle  of  Patos  in  going, 
adding  that  Cabot  arrived  at  the  island  whilst  he  was  there, 
which  must  logically  and  naturally  mean  that  was  on  his  way 
out.  Add  that  Garcia  in  his  narrative  speaks  of  his  voyage 
to  the  furthest  point  he  reached,  and  has  not  a  single  word  on 
what  he  did  after  his  arrival  there  or  on  his  return.  His 
story  must  then  beyond  all  question  refer  to  the  time  when 
he  was  sailing  on  the  way  to  the  Plata  ;  and  so  it  is  understood 
also  by  Herrera,  who  makes  it  the  basis  of  a  charge  against 
Cabot,f  so  also  Biddle  who  with  all  the  sharpness  of  his  genius 
labors  to  show  the  moral  impossibility  of  Cabot's  committing 
this  infamy  on  his  way  to  the  Moluccas.;}: 

But  Garcia,  putting  this  event  at  the  time  of  his  going  out, 
lies  impudently.  I  pass  over  the  arguments  of  its  improba- 
bility brought  by  Biddle,  for  his  lying  can  be  more  easily  and 
effectually  proved  by  the  documents,  or  rather  from  Garcia's 
own  story.   He  says  that  he  left  the  Bay  of  San  Vincente  Jan- 

*"e  nndandoen  el  camino  allegamos  a  tin  rio  quest  llama  el  Rio  delos  patos... 
que  ay  una  buena  generacion  que  bace  nmy  buena  obra  a  los  cristianos.  .e  alii 
nos  dieron  mucha  vitualla  ....  porque  beran  buenos  yndios  e  nqui  llego  se- 
bastiau  caboto  muerto  de  hambre  en  este  tiempo  que  yo  estaba  alii  e  los  yndios 
le  dieron  de  comer  e  todo  lo  que  avia  meuester  a  el  easu  gente  para  su  viaje  y 
quando  se  quiso  ir  u'  se  ihatomo  quatro  bijos  de  los  principales  de  alii  e  los 
trayo  en  espafia  e  los  tres  dellos  los  tiene  en  sevilla  el  qual  danifico  aquel  pu- 
erto  que  bera  el  major  e  mas  buena  gente  que  en  aquella  parte  aviapor  causa 
de  tomar  los  bijos  delos  principales  dela  ysla." 

f  "  llego  a  la  isla  de  Patos,  con  mucha  hambre,  y  hie  bien  recibidode  1<«3 
yndios,  que  le  dieron  mucha  victualla  con  que  bastecio  los  navios,  aunque  se 
lo  pago  mal,  porque  tomo  quatro  bijos  de  los  hombres  mas  principales."    Dec. 
iii,  lib.  x,  cap.  i. 
\  See  Memoir,  bk.  i,  p.  228  and  sq. 


gakcia's  falsehood.  241 

uary  15,  1527.-  Then  lie  could  not  have  been  at  Patos  be- 
fore the  end  of  that  month,  or  the  early  part  of  February.  Ca- 
bot, on  the  other  hand,  left  Pernambuco  September  29th,  1526, 
and  sailed  direct  to  the  Bay  of  Saint  Catharine,  that  is  to  say, 
to  Patos :  where  he  must  have  arrived  in  October  1526,  or,  if 
much  delayed  on  the  voyage  by  foul  weather,  in  November 
at  the  latest  :  and  he  remained  at  the  Bay  of  Saint  Catharine 
till  the  15th  of  February  152  7.  f  How  then  could  Garcia  say 
that  Cabot  arrived  at  Patos  whilst  he  was  there,  since  Cabot  was 
already  in  the  Bay  of  Saint  Catharine  months  before  Garcia 
sailed  from  Saint  Vincent  ?  But  it  is  not  only  false  that  Cabot 
on  his  outward  voyage  arrived  at  Patos  whilst  Garcia  was 
there,  but  they  did  not  even  meet  there.  If  they  had  met, 
both  sailing  under  the  same  flag,  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  they 
had  no  more  communication  with  each  other  than  to  avoid 
each  other  like  the  plague  ?  No:  and  therefore  they  would  have 
known  of  each  other's  voyage,  that  is,  that  they  were  both 
bound  for  the  Plata  ;  for  Cabot  came  to  the  determination  to 
stop  at  that  river  after  a  council  held  with  his  officers  in  the 
Bay  of  Saint  Catharine,  and  this  determination  was  public  and 
known  to  everybody.;};  If  it  had  been  so,  would  not  Gar- 
cia have  spoken  of  it  in  his  narrative,  and  complained  of  Ca- 
bot's invasion  of  his  rights?  But  he  has  not  a  word  of  it. 
Indeed  it  is  clear  from  his  narrative  that  it  was  a  surprise  to 
him  to  find  Cabot  at  the  Plata,  and  it  was  a  surprise  to  Cabot 
and  his  men  to  see  Garcia  come  there.  Without  my  going 
into  the  proof  in  detail,  let  the  reader  remember  the  meeting 
of  Garcia  and  Grajeda  when,  neither  knowing  of  the  other, 
they  were  on  the  point  of  coming  to  blows  :  let  him  remem- 
ber Cabot's  apprehensions  when  he  heard  that  other  white  men 
were  ascending  the  Plata,  supposing  them  to  be  Portuguese.^ 


"...  alii  (  St.  Vincent)  estuvimos  basta  quiuze  de  enero  del  afio  syguiente 
de  xxvii  .  .  .  ." — and  again,  "deaqui  partimos  mediados  del  mes  de  enero." 

f  "Al  poco  tiempode  haber  salido  de  este  pnerto(Pernanibuco)29  de  setiein- 
bre  sofreron  etc.  etc."— "salieron  deste  puerto  (pie  llamaron  de  St.  Catalina  el 
15  de  Febrero  de  1527."— Ramirez,  v.  App.  xxxvii. 
X  See  what  was  related  in  cb.  xviii. 

£  "  El  desgraciado  esito  de  esta  espedicion  (the  death  of  Lieutenant  de  Ri 

16 


242  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

But  without  this,  there  is  the  word  of  Rojas,  authenticated  by 
a  notary,  which  makes  Diego  Garcia's  falsehood  as  clear  as  the 
light  of  day.  He  was  not  only  present  at  Patos  when  Cabot 
came  and  when  he  left  ;  but  was  deposed  at  the  very  moment 
of  his  departure.  No  one  would  be  more  likely  to  know  if 
Cabot  made  slaves  of  those  four  young  men,  and  if  the  island 
was  in  a  ferment  on  account  of  the  atrocious  offence;  and  no 
one,  considering  his  hatred  of  Cabot,  would  be  more  likely 
to  remember  it  and  make  it  known.  At  Port  Saint  Vincent 
Rojas  sends  this  message  to  Cabot  :  "They  have  told  me  that  at 
the  Isle  of  Patos  you  took  four  Indians  :"  it  must  therefore 
have  been  after  his  departure  and  consequently  when  Cabot 
stopped  again  in  the  Bay  of  Saint  Catharine  on  his  return. 

It  is  clear  and  evident  that  Garcia  lied  when  he  said  the 
capture  was  made  when  going.  Was  it  made  on  the  return  ? 
Yes.  We  have  no  reason  for  denying  it,  and  the  evidence  of 
the  fact  which  Garcia  gives  when  he  says,  "and  three  of  them 
he  has  at  Seville,"  removes  all  doubt,  for  it  was  a  matter  so 
easy  to  verify  that  it  would  have  been  absurd  to  doubt  his 
positive  assertion. 

But,  the  reader  may  say,  why  make  so  much  complaint 
about  those  four  slaves,  whether  Sebastian  Cabot  took  them 
first  or  last  ?  In  those  times,  it  was  only  too  often  that  whole 
ship-loads  of  slaves  were  brought  to  Europe  from  the  New 
World,  and  the  deed  of  Cabot  in  comparison  is  a  trifle  not 
wTorth  making  account  of.  And  what  interest  had  Garcia  to 
displace  the  fact,  and  what  effect  would  the  displacement  have 
on  Sebastian  Cabot  ?  In  itself  the  matter  is  if  no  importance  ; 
but  as  we  have  repeatedly  said,  in  the  absence  of  the  neces- 
sary light  to  show  us  our  wa}^  we  must  make  use  of  every 
gleam  we  catch  here  and  there  to  find  our  path  in  the  dark- 
ness which  envelopes  it.  In  this  accusation  by  Garcia  we 
get  a  glimpse  of  the  dark  fabric  of  falsehood  and  calumny 
against  Cabot  on  his  return  voyage  to  Spain.  The  matter  of 
the  four  slaves  is  very  small,  but  the  strength  of  great  ropes  is 


fos)  y  el  saber  que  andaba  una  arm;\da  poiiuguesa  en  el  rio  Solis  fuero  motives 
para  que  el  general  determinase  volverse  rio  abajo  hasta  el  Parana."  Ramirez, 
App.  xxxvii. 


SEIZURE  OF  THE  FOUR  INDIANS.  243 

composed  of  fine,  weak  threads.  Garcia  changed  the  time 
when  the  act  was  done,  because  if  it  was  on  his  return,  it  bore 
no  weight  against  Cabot,  but  if  on  the  outward  voyage,  it 
might  furnish  a  weapon  against  him,  and  it  was  most  useful 
to  Garcia  to  seize  and  use  it. 

It  is  necessary  for  the  reader  to  remember  the  base  bargain 
which  Garcia  had  made  at  the  port  of  Saint  Vincent  with  the 
Portuguese  bachelor,  selling  him  his  largest  ship,  and  all  his 
wishes  to  give  it  a  color  of  necessity,  but  without  success,  as  is 
told  by  Herrera,  who  calls  Garcia's  reasons  mere  pretexts,  al- 
though he  was  most  favorable  to  him  and  inclined  to  sustain 
him.  When  Garcia  made  that  sale  he  had  hopes  for  the 
future  and  did  not  doubt  that  he  would  be  able  to  pass  it  off 
as  a  good  bargain.  But  when  Cabot  returned  from  his  ex- 
pedition weary  and  discouraged,  with  his  wings  clipped,  Gar- 
cia could  be  in  no  better  condition,  for  his  expedition  also  had 
entirely  failed  of  its  purpose.  This  is  convincingly  proved  by 
his  silence  in  his  narrative,  notwithstanding  the  loquacity  of 
his  vain-glorious  tongue.  The  abandoning  of  the  Plata  was 
wholly  the  fault  of  his  men,  and  every  one  knows  that 
the  fault  of  an  army  falls  entirely  on  the  Captain  in 
command.  Garcia  therefore  had  cause  for  alarm  on  his  return 
to  Spain.  What  was  he  to  do  to  turn  attention  from  him- 
self upon  another  ?  That  which  too  often  occurs  in  daily  life, 
the  man  with  the  least  scruple  to  put  his  hands  on  another's 
property  is  the  first  to  cry,  Stop  thief,  and  the  strictest  pro- 
fessor of  morals  is  often  the  one  who  most  needs  to  practise 
them.  Garcia,  in  his  intercourse  with  Cabot's  men,  saw  what 
was  fermenting,  he  foresaw,  as  was  easy  to  do,  what  a  burst 
of  anger,  recrimination,  and  revenge  his  arrival  would  pro- 
duce in  Spain,  and  to  divert  the  eyes  of  others  from  himself 
he  joined  the  choir  of  accusers.  The  fact  of  the  four  slaves, 
however  insignificant  of  itself,  acquired  a  certain  weight  in 
face  of  the  laws  of  Spain,  and  Cabot's  office  of  chief-pilot, 
that  is  to  say,  the  highest  authority  in  the  marine  of  all 
Spain.  The  council  of  the  Indies  had  given  positive  orders 
to  all  sailing  for  the  Indies  to  use  no  violence  towards  the 
natives  ;  and  Stephen  Gomez,  who  disregarded  these  orders 


244  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

and  came  back  with  a  cargo  of  Indian  slaves,  found  the  whole 
nation  excited  to  indignation  against  him.*  These  orders  were 
given  to  Cabot  in  particular,  as  they  were  to  all  others. f  Now 
what  judgment  ought  to  be  passed  on  Cabot,  if  he,  who  held 
the  highest  grade  in  the  Spanish  Marine,  had  shamelessly 
trampled  on  the  orders  of  the  government  which,  though  is- 
sued to  all  Spaniards  in  general,  yet  had  special  reference  to 
men  of  the  sea  ?  And  if  such  contempt  would  have  made  a 
bad  impression  in  any  case,  what  must  it  do  when  he 
returned  defeated  in  his  undertaking,  and  the  noble  band  of 
young  men  who  had  followed  him  with  trust  in  his  promises 
were  nearly  all  left  dead  in  a  distant  land  ?  What  must 
have  been  the  impression  on  seeing  him  return  to  Spain,  not 
with  the  promised  treasures  of  Tarshish  and  Ophir,  but  with 
four  boys  torn  from  their  mothers'  arms,  children  of  a  people 
friendly  to  Spain,  cordial,  hospitable,  and  that  had  been 
of  service  to  the  Spanish  ships?  The  weapon  seized  by 
Garcia  might,  then,  wound,  and  that  seriously;  and  he 
feel  secure  in  his  blow,  for  once  the  fact  was  true,  no  one  who 
heard  of  it  would  care  whether  it  happened  earlier  or 
later.  Whereas,  if  the  fact  happened  later,  Cabot  was  free 
from  all  blame.  Of  this  there  can  be  no  doubt,  Captain  Rojas 
brought  against  Cabot  a  serious  charge,  collecting  every 
detail  that  could  injure  him,  but  boldly  distorts  the  facts.  If  it 
had  been  true  that  in  so  seriously  offending  those  isl- 
anders, Cabot  had  injured  and  endangered  the  Spanish  ves- 
sels, why  did  Rojas,  who  in  the  suit  against  Cabot,  brought 
forward  the  minutest  spots  in  the  expedition,— why  did 
he  not  take  up  the  complaints  of  the  Indians  and  make  them 
known  to  all  Spain  ;  especially  as  he  had  offered  to  return  the 
four  youths  to  their  homes,  and  thus  restore  the  peace  and  se- 
curity of  the  island  ?  The  reason  is  plain.  At  Saint  Vincent  it 
sufficed  that  the  fact  was  at  bottom  true,  to  cast  it  in  Cabot's 


*  Peter  Martyr  d'  Aughiera,  Dec.  viii,  cap.  10. 

f"  Diose  a  Gaboto la  iusUucion  come  la  del    Comendador   Loaysa." 

Herrera,  Dec.  iii,  lib.  ix,  cap.  3.— and  Loay^a's  instructions  were  :  "  que  pro- 
curassen  de  aver  lenguas  de  todas  las  tienas  que  deseubriessen,  y  las  tratassen 
bien."  — Id.,  Dec.  iii,  lib.  vii,  cap.  6. 


CABOT'S  ANXIETY  ON  HIS  RETURN.  245 

face  :  but  for  the  trial  it  was  necessary  to  show  that  it 
was  wrong,  and  as  he  could  not  do  this,  he  went  no  fur- 
ther. In  truth,  why  should  Cabot  have  so  grievously  injured 
those  poor  islanders  ?  Not  for  the  purpose  of  exhibiting  some 
of  them  as  specimens  in  Europe  :  for  Patos  was  only  a  step 
from  the  coast  of  Brazil,  where  the  Portuguese  were  continually 
going  and  coming  with  their  ships,  and  the  poor  inhabitants 
of  that  island  could  present  no  novelty  to  interest  Europeans. 
Not  with  a  view  to  gain,  for  that  were  ridiculous  to  suppose  ; 
still  less  from  mere  caprice  or  evil  disposition.  If,  then,  it  was 
not  from  interest  or  malice,  there  must  be  some  other  way  to 
explain  it,  and  one  which  entirely  exonerates  Cabot.  We  may 
easily  divine  what  it  was  from  the  letter,  which  we  shall  soon 
record,  of  a  Portuguese  who  was  equally  removed  from  partial- 
ity for  Cabot  and  Garcia.  From  him  we  shall  learn  that  Cabot 
returned  to  Spain  with  only  twenty  men,  of  all  that  had 
sailed  with  him.  With  the  service  so  reduced  it  is  easy  to  un- 
derstand that  the  return  voyage  was  difficult  and  dangerous. 
Taking  this  into  consideration,  and  also  the  fact  that  after  his 
return  to  Spain  no  one  from  any  quarter  brought  up  the 
charge  that  he  had  taken  those  four  young  men  at  Patos,  I 
hold  that  he  took  them  under  constraint  of  the  need  of  hands 
for  the  wants  of  the  ship,  choosing  them,  not  as  Garcia 
calumniously  pretends,  from  the  sons  of  the  principal  persons 
on  the  island,  but  from  the  strongest  and  most  fit  for  the  work 
required. 


CHAPTER  XXL 


Arrival  in  Spain, 


In  the  thick  darkness  which  obscures  every  thing,  there  is  no 
danger  of  running  into  romance  in  supposing  that  Cabot  on 
his  return  to  Spain  was  anxious  as  to  the  reception  he  should 
meet.  For  all  that  he  felt  himself  free  from  fault,  the  fact 
remained  that  he  was  a  general  returning  from  battle.defeated, 


246  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

and  his  army  annihilated.  He  could  not  but  know  the  deep 
hate  for  him  brooded  over  by  some  of  his  officers  who  had 
been  accomplices  of  the  three  rebels,  and  who  were  afterwards 
kept  under  obedience  only  by  fear.  They  were  Spaniards,  he 
a  foreigner  ;  they  would  have  with  them  the  whole  choir  of 
their  relatives  and  friends  to  howl  and  bustle,  disguising 
and  falsifying  things,  inventing  charges  and  calumnies  :  he 
had  only  the  truth  for  his  justification  in  showing  the  misfort- 
unes that  had  pursued  him.  His  fancy  must  have  dreaded 
above  all  the  company  of  merchants,  whose  anger  he  had  al- 
ready aroused,  and  whose  vengeance  would  now  be  bitterly 
excited.  Still  ignorant  of  the  reception  given  to  the  two  of- 
ficers he  had  sent  to  Spain,  he  must  have  worried  greatly  over 
that  long  silence  of  twenty-two  months,  concerning  the  dis- 
position of  the  Emperor  and  the  government  in  his  regard.* 
These  doubts  and  anxieties  are  not  founded  on  any  docu- 
ment which  records  them,  but  on  human  nature,  and  conse- 
quently are  true.  Neither  Herrera  nor  the  other  historians 
have  a  word  on  Cabot's  arrival  in  Spain;  the  only  document 
which  mentions  it  is  a  letter  from  Dr.  Affonso  Simao  to  the 
King  of  Portugal.  This  is  dated  August  2, 1530,  and  was  writ- 
ten the  same  week  that  Cabot  arrived  from  La  Plata.  His  return 
was  consequently  in  the  latter  part  of  July  1 530,  and  as  his  de- 
parture was  in  the  beginning  of  April,  1526,  we  know  that  the 
expedition  lasted  four  years  and  four  months.  The  portion 
of  Simao's  letter  referring  to  Cabot  is  as  folio  ws:f  "This  week 
there  arrived  here  a  pilot  and  captain  who  was  sent  to 
discover  land.  His  name  is  Gaboto,  he  is  the  chief  pilot 
of  these  Kingdoms,  and  is  the  same  person  that  sent  the  ship 
which  touched  at  Lisbon  two  years  ago,  and  brought  news  of 
land  discovered  on  the  River  Pereuai  which  they  said  abounded 
in  gold  and  silver.  I  find  him  very  wretched  and  poor,  for 
they  say  he  brought  no  gold  or  silver,  nor  any  thing  of  profit 
to  those  that  fitted   om  the  vessels,  and  of  200    men  that 


*The  two  officers  presented  themselves  to  the  Emperor  at   Toledo  at  the 
end  of  October  1528,  and  Cabot  returned  to  Spain  in  the  latter  part  of  July  153d 
f  The  Appendix  gives  the  letter  in  full.  See  App.  xli. 


COMPLAINTS  AGAINST  CABOT.  247 

he  took  with  him  he  brings  back  less  than  20  ;  for  they  say 
all  the  rest  were  left  there  dead,  some  from  fatigue  and  hun- 
ger, others  killed  in  war;  for  they  say  the  arrow-wounds  killed 
many  of  them,  and  the  wooden  fort  they  built  was  destroyed  ; 
so  that  they  are  very  ill-satisfied  and  the  pilot  is  a  prisoner;  and 
they  say  they  will  send  to  court  to  see  what  they  order  done 
with  him.  What  I  could  learn  and  what  is  said  here 
publicly,  though  in  a  low  voice,  is  that  in  the  land  they 
say  they  discovered  they  left  no  guard  but  their  dead  and  de- 
serters. But  notwithstanding  this,  these  men  tell  me 
they  saw  that  the  land  possessed  much  silver  and  gold,  and 
the  reason  why  they  brought  none  is,  as  they  say,  because  the 
captain  would  not  allow  them  to  bargain  for  it,  and  also  be- 
cause the  Moors  deceived  them  and  rebelled  against  them. 
Your  Highness  will  believe  what  you  think  best  of  this,  but 
it  is  certain  that  the  land  is  abandoned.  The  river,  they  say, 
is  very  long  and  deep,  and  very  wide  at  its  mouth.  If  Your 
Highness  shall  find  it  for  your  interest  to  send  there  now,  you 
could  do  so,  for  these  people  fly  from  a  place  where  they  see 
no  money." 

To  add  comments  on  this  letter  would  only  lessen  the 
feeling  of  deep  sadness  it  produces  in  the  mind  of  the  reader. 
But  to  understand  how  it  was  possible  for  the  voyage  to  be 
made  with  the  number  of  men  so  greatly  reduced,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  Cabot  had  left  part  of  his  men  at  Cape 
Santa  Maria  on  the  Plata,  and  naturally  left  one  ship  with 
them.  Indeed,  in  the  Proofs  of  Catharine  Vasquez,  to  the 
22nd  interrogatory  one  of  the  witnesses  says  expressly  that 
he  came  back  from  La  Plata  on  one  of  the  ships  left  there  by 
Cabot.*  Another  ship  was  sent  to  Spain  with  the  two  officers  ; 
the  flag-ship  was  sunk  in  the  Bay  of  Saint  Catharine  :  so  that 
of  the  four  ships  with  which  he  set  out  only  one  remained 
for  Cabot  on  his  return.  This  explains  the  possibility  of  do- 
ing with  so  small  a  number  of  men.     But  to  these  should  be 


*  "  Dixo  que  ....  veniendo  este  testigo  con  una  nao  e  cierta  gente  quel 
dicho  sebastiaa  caboto  avia  dexado  per.lida  en  el  rio  de  solis  la  dicha  nao 
aporto  al  puerto  de  los  patos  ques  cerca  della  dicha  jsla  de  santa  catalina." 
vi  witness. 


248  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

added  the  four  young  men  taken  at  the  Tsle  of  Patos  :  in  re- 
gard to  whom,  as  the  evidence  now  shows,  the  reader  may 
confirm  his  consciousness,  or  rather  certainty,  that  they 
were  taken  hy  Cabot  and  put  aboard  his  ship,  not  for  gain 
nor  from  malice,  but  from  the  absolute  need  he  had  of  help- 
ing the  few  hands  he  had  left. 

As  soon  as  he  arrived  in  Spain,  his  enemies  fell  upon  him 
with  the  fury  and  unanimity  of  a  lot  of  city  dogs  on  a  lean 
country  dog  trembling  with  fear  and  hunger.  So  great  was  the 
burst  of  accusations  and  rumors  that  the  Council  of  the  In- 
dies decided  to  have  him  arrested  at  once.  In  the  fury  of 
this  attack,  this  snapping  and  biting,  some  of  his  own  officers 
were  preeminent  for  their  hatred  and  rage  ;  so  much  so,  that 
one  witness  testifies  that  it  was  said  and  believed  among  the 
members  of  the  expedition  that  it  was  they  who  had  caused 
his  arrest.*  A  regular  trial  was  opened  at  his  charge  on  the 
accusations  preferred  against  him. 

Of  this  trial  I  have  been  able  to  obtain,  as  I  have  said  else- 
where, the  complaint  presented  by  Catharine  Vasquez,motber 
of  Martin  Mendez  ;  that  of  Francis  de  Rojas,  and  the  answer 
or  defence  made  by  Cabot,  Rojas  presented  his  complaint  No- 
vember 2  of  that  same  year,  only  three  months  after  Cabot's  re- 
turn ;  so  that  he  must  have  followed  him  closely  to  the  Spanish 
coast.     These  documents  are  too  scanty  to  reconstruct  the  pro- 


*"Oyo  decir  este  testigo  en  sevilla  a  mucbas  personas  y  marineros  de  la 
dicha  armada  quel  dicho  alonso  bueno  e  santa  cruz  e  gasmirez  e  juan  de 
junco  avian  hecho  premier  al  dicho  capitan  Sebastian  caboto  per  enemistad 
que  con  el  tenian."— I  witness  to  the  xxxi  Interrogatory  of  Sebastian  Cabot's 

proofs. 

Tbe  XXX  Interrogatory  of  Cabot's  proofs  mentions  Juan  de  Junco,  treasurer 
of  the  ship  Santa  Maria,  whose  hatred,  according  to  the  10th  witness,  was 
principally  due  to  Cabot's  just  severity  in  restraining  his  tyranny  over  his 
subalterns  ;  the  XXXI  shows  Alonzo  Bueno,  by  the  testimony  of  all  the  wit- 
nesses, often  reproved  by  Cabot,  even  publicly,  as  a  blasphemer,  and  for  keep- 
ing in  his  quarters  a  gaming-table,  and  for  selling  articles  to  the  sailors  for 
more  than  they  were  worth  ;  the  XXXII  names  Alonzo  de  Santa  Cruz,  but 
the  witnesses  only  know  that  he  bad  tbe  name  of  beimr  one  of  the  conspirators 
against,  Cabot,  and  had  said  every  tiling  bad  of  him  since  their  return  ;  the 
XXXIII  gives  the  name  of  Gasmirez  Coremberg,  a  German,  whom  Cabot  had 
reprimanded  and  punished  with  great  severity  for  public  slander  of  the 
Emperor. 


COMPLAINTS  AGAINST  CABOT.  240 

fceedings  in  their  entirety,  but  they  are  sufficient  to  show  with 
what  fury  every  kind  of  accusation  was  hunted  out  and  piled 
up  against  Cabot.  In  the  course  of  this  narrative  we  have  had 
repeated  occasion  to  take  up  some  of  them  :  but  to  what  has  al- 
ready been  said,  it  will  be  useful  to  add  a  few  things,  not  so 
much  for  the  purpose  of  exposing  the  hate  of  his  accusers  and 
their  activity  in  hunting  up  charges,  as  to  show  that  they  did 
not  scruple  to  cast  in  his  face  the  most  inconsistent  and  bare- 
faced calumnies. 

We  have  seen  that  Michael  Rodas  and  Martin  Mendez  were 
lost  on  the  passage  from  the  Isle  of  Patos  to  the  mainland 
while  fleeing  from  the  dagger  of  Captain  de  Rojas  ;  yet  Men- 
dez's  mother  claims  that  Cabot  was  guilty  of  his  death,  because 
if  he  had  not  placed  her  son  on  that  island,  he  would  have 
had  no  need  to  flee  from  Rojas,  and  so  would  not  have  per- 
ished.* At  the  Bay  of  Saint  Catharine,  among  many  others 
that  died,  there  was  also  a  brother  of  Lieutenant  Martin  Men- 
dez, named  Michael.  His  mother  claims  that  Cabot  was 
guilty  of  his  death  also,  saying  that  her  son  died  of  a  broken 
heart  because  his  brother  was  deposed  and  abandoned.  +  The 
witnesses  produced  by  Vasquez  herself  in  support  of  her 
charge,  agree  in  testifying  that  he  was  taken  sick  and  died  of 
the  same  disease  as  many  others.  Only  one  testifies  that  he  had 
heard  it  said  that  his  death  was  caused  by  his  brother's  misfort- 
une. \  It  is  worthy  of  remark  also,  that  this  witness  always  con- 
firms the  accusation  in  almost  the  very  words  of  the  interrog- 
atory, as  though  repeating  a  lesson.  Take  as  a  sample  the  X  in- 
terrogatory, where  it  is  asked  if  Cabot  arrested  Martin  Mendez 
without  just  cause.  All  the  witnesses  depose  affirmatively  as  to 
the  arrest,  but  answer  that  they  did  not  know  whether  the 
cause  was  just  or  not ;  those  who  want  to  be  favorable  to  Vasquez 
say  they  have  not  seen  or  heard  Martin  Mendez  do  or  say  any 


*  xxii  Interrogatory. 

f  xxx  Interrogatory. 

X  "  cayo  malo  y  raurio  de  la  dicha  dolencia  pero  que  si  cayo  malo  de  pensa- 
miento  de  la  prision  desu  hermauo  martin  mendez  o  no  que  este  testigo  no  lo 
sabe  masde  lo  aver  oydo  decir  por  muy  gierto  a  la  masde  la  dicha  armada  por 
cosa  cierta."  I  witness. 


250  THE  LIFE  OP  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

thing  which  in  their  opinion  deserved  arrest*  But  this  witness 
that  I  speak  of  affirms  frankly  that  he  saw  that  he  was  arrested 
without  just  cause.  On  the  other  hand,  the  witnesses  produced 
by  Cabot  for  the  defence,  not  only  affirm  unanimously  that 
Michael  Mendez  was  taken  with  the  same  malady  as  all  the 
others,  that  he  was  ill  many  days,  and  that  Cabot  treated  him 
with  every  care  during  his  illness,  and  one  witness  had  visited 
him  frequently  by  Cabot's  orders  :  but  they  also  add  that  he 
died  before  his  brother  was  arrested  and  deposed.^  Elsewhere  the 
same  Vasquez  (and  she,  poor  soul,  is  to  be  pitied  for  having 
in  the  agony  of  her  mother's  grief  taken  up  every  story  that 
was  told  her),  in  the  XXXI  and  XXXII  interrogatory  ac- 
cuses Cabot  of  having  tried  to  poison  her  son  Ferdinand.;};   No 


*III — "Sabe  quel  dicho  Sebastian  caboto  mando  prender....pero  quela  causa 
por  que  lo  mando  prender  no  lo  sabe"  =VIII — "Dixo  que  oio  que  sacaron.  .  . 
al  dicho  martin  mendez.  .  .  .e  que  lo  demas  no  lo  sabe."=X — "  Dixo  que  .  .  . 
vio  como  al  dicho  martin  mendez  lo  traxeron.  .  .que  no  sabe  la  causa  por  que." 

— And  the  others  : 

VI — "Vio  como  el  dicho  Sebastian  caboto  mando  sacar  .  .  .  al  dicho  martin 
mendez  e  .  .  .  .  e  que  d'esta  prision  e  mal  tratamiento  ....  no  vio  hazer  al 
dicho  martin  mendez  cosa  en  desservicio  de  su  magestad  donde  lo  mereseiese." 
=VII — "Vio  como  el  dicho  Sebastian  Caboto  mando  sacar.  .  .al  dicho  martin 
mendez  e  ...  no  vio  ni  oyo  quel  dicho  martin  mendez  .  .  .  oviese  fecho  cosa 
que  nodeviese  por  donde  deviese  estar  preso." 

The  first  witness,  on  the  other  hand,  says  boldly  : 

— "  Vio  que  sin  causa  justa  que  tuviese  el  dicho  Sebastian  caboto  mando  pren- 
der y  tener  preso  al  dicho  martin  mendez." 

f — "  Sabe  quel  dicho  hernan  mendez  estovo  muchos  dias  doliente  y  enfermo 
come  estovieron  otros  muchos  de  la  dicha  armada.... e  que  vio  estetestigo  quel 
dicho  capitan  caboto  trataba  muy  bien  al  dicho  hernan  mendez,  e  que  sabe  e 
vio  quel  dicho  hernan  mendez  murio  de  la  enfermedad  que  tenia  porquestovo 
inucho  tiempo  enfermo  en  la  cama  y  este  testigo  lo  vio  en  la  cam  a  malo  y  le  vio 
enterrar."=The  iii  witness  to  the  first  of  the  annexed  Interrogatories.  The 
other  six  witnesses  repeat  and  confirm  the  same  thing.  The  vi  acids — "murio 
de  la  dicha  enfermedad  como  murieron  otros  e  murio  antes  quel  martin  men- 
dez su  hermano  quedase  alii  desterrado,  e  questo  que  lo  sabe  porque  fu  asy  pu- 
blico entro  todos  los  de  la  dicha  armada:" —  and  the  ix — "  queste  testigo  por 
mandado  del  dicho  capitan  caboto  vesito  muchas  vezes  al  dicho  hernan  men- 
dez—." 

|"Yten  si  saben  vieron  etcetera  questando  enfermoe  mal  dispuesto  el  dicho 
hernan  mendez  el  dicho  Sebastian  caboto  mando  y  hiz'o  que  en  una  purga 
que  se  le  dava  para  su  salud  se  le  echasen  otras  cosas  muy  danosas  pestilen- 
ciales  de  cuja  causa  el  dicho  hernan  mendez  murio  y  espiro  luego  como  se  le 
dio  la  dicha  purga  y  en  acabandola  de  tomar  se  puso  en  todo  su  cuerpo  de  co- 


ARREST  OF  CABOT.  251 

witness  answers  this  interrogatory.  Nor  does  any  witness  an- 
swer the  XXV,  in  which  Vasquez  says  that  "when  Cabot  was 
returning  to  Spain  he  was  asked  by  many  to  touch  at  the  Isl- 
and of  Saint  Catharine  to  take  up  the  three  deposed  officers, 
and  that  he  refused  saying  he  believed  they  were  dead  or 
eaten  by  Indians  :  from  which,"  observes  Vasquez,  "  it  must 
be  presumed  that  he  left  them  for  the  purpose  of  killing  them, 
and  that  they  might  die  there. "*  This  infamous  accusation, 
if  not  answered  by  any  witnesses  on  the  trial,  is  answered 
in  Cabot's  defence  in  history  by  Diego  Garcia's  calumny  when 
lie  charges  him  with  taking  from  Patos  four  young  Indians 
when  he  passed  there  on  his  outward  voyage  (and  we  have 
seen  full  evidence  that  the  fact  occurred  on  his  return);  and  by 
the  notice  given  to  Captain  de  Rojas  at  the  harbor  of  Saint 
Vincent  to  come  on  board  of  his  ship  under  promise  of  being 
presented  safe  and  sound  before  the  Emperor  and  the  Council 
of  the  Indies. 

There  is  another  circumstance  that  ought  to  be  mentioned 
as  a  significant  mark  of  the  surroundings  in  which  the  charges 
against  Sebastian  Cabot  were  developed.  Captain  de  Rojas,  in 
his  interrogatories,  hardly  mentions  the  grounds  on  which  he 
was  going  to  explain  his  charges,  before  he  puts  this  first 
question  to  his  witnesses  :  "  Do  they  know  that  he  is  an  hi- 
dalgo's son  of  known  worth,  and  Sebastian  Cabot  a  foreigner 
and  nobody  knows  who  he  is.  "  f 


lor  muy  negra  y  tal  que  notoriamente  parescia  que  le  avian  echado  en  la 
dicha  purga  cosas  para  que  muriese." 

— " Ay  ningun  testigo  que  sepaesta  Pregunta."  — Preguntaxxxi. 

Pregunta  xxxii  is  all  spoilt,  but  its  sense  comes  out  clearly  :"...saben  vieron 
etcetera  e  dello  ha  ...  publiea  vuz,  e  fama  entre  ...ute  de  la  dicha  armada  que 
por  ...  e  yndustriay  consejio  del  ....  stian  caboto  se  dio  la  dicha  pur  .  .  .o  her- 
nand  mendez  e  se  echa  .  .  .  11a  e  rexalgar  e  otras  cosas  que  luego  causaron  su 
muerta  etc."  —  To  this  also  there  is  no  witness. 

*  "  Yten  si  saben  etcetera  que  al  tiempn  que  agora  bolvia  el  dicho  Sebastian 
caboto  los  que  venian  en  el  armada  le  requirieron  que  tocasen  en  la  dicha  ysla 

de  santa  cataliua y  el  dicho  Sebastian  caboto  nolo  quiso  hazer  dizieudo 

que  ya  creya  que  heran  muertos  o  comidos  de  yndios  por  donde  es  de  creeF 
que  los  dexo  alii  con  proposito  de  los  malar  e  para  que  se  muriesen." 

t  "  Yten  si  saben  ....  quel  dicho  capitan  Francisco  de  Rojas  es  hi  jo  dalgo 
de  valor  conocido  y  el  dicho  sabastian  gaboto  es  etrangero  y  no  se  satte  quien 
es  .  .  .  .  "  II  lot. — App.  xxxv. 


252 


THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 


We  who  know  how  things  went  on  that  unfortunate  expe- 
dition, even  when  laying  some  of  the  blame  on  Cabot,  now  on 
beholding  him  return  so  torn  and  crushed,  are  more  than 
ever  inclined  to  sympathize  with  him.  But  the  Spaniards  knew 
little  or  nothing  of  what  had  occurred.   Very  little  of  the  report 
brought  by  the  two  officers,  although  communicated  to  the  Mer- 
chants'   Company,  can  have  reached  the  knowledge  of  the 
public  ;  and  if  there  then  was  great  disappointment  at  not 
having  secured  the  fancied  treasures  of  Tarshish  and*  Ophir, 
there  was  the  consolation  of  having  found  a  land  abounding 
in  silver-mines.      And  besides,  the  two  years  that  had  passed 
since  then,  must  have  greatly  weakened  that  sad  impression  ; 
so  that  Spain  must    have  been,  and  was,  quiet  enough  in 
regard  to  that  expedition.     But  now,  on  its  return,  no  silver, 
no  commerce,  no  possession  of  the  River,  and  of  200  persons 
that  had  embarked  only  a  score  come  back,  and  they  all  ragged, 
lean,  exhausted  in  body  no  less  than  in  mind.   The  blow  must 
have  been  the  severer  that  it  was  the  less  expected.     The 
howl  of  protest  and  complaint  against  Cabot  was  the  very 
natural  result  of  such  spectacle.        A  battle  that  turns  out 
badly     may    be    imputed    to    adverse    circumstances,    the 
overpowering  number  of  the  enemy,  to  a  thousand  different 
causes  ;  but  the  destruction  of  an  entire  army,  the  total  loss  of 
arms  and  baggage  can  be  imputed  only  to  the  inefficiency  or 
treason  of  the  general.     And  Cabot's  position  was  made  a 
thousand  times    worse  by  the  fact  that    voices  were  raised 
among  his  own  officers  to  accuse  and  condemn  him.       What 
a  chorus  of  imprecations  was  there  !     What  cries  for  ven- 
geance !     Even  the  Exchequer  turned  upon  him,  and,  all  it 
could  do,  charged  him  with  not  having  followed  the  instruc- 
tions given  him.    Cabot,  in  the  midst  of  the  furious  tempest, 
alone,  a  foreigner,  crushed  by  sufferings  of  the  mind,  with 
every    appearance  of  being  to  blame,  '  could  only  look  for 
acquittal  from  so  many  accusations  to  time  and  the  stilling  of 
passions.  Is  it  surprising  that,  with  all  the  clamor  against 
him,  the  Council  of  the  Indies  at  once  ordered  the  arrest  of  the 
wretched  captain  ? 

In  a  report  which  the  Council  of  the  Indies  sent  to  Charles 


ARREST  OF  CABOT.  253 

V,  we  find  the  heads  of  the  charges  on  which  the  order  of 
arrest  was  based.  uHe  was  arrested,"  says  the  report,  "at 
the  request  of  relatives  of  persons  of  whose  death  he  is 
accused,  as  also  of  having  abandoned  others  on  the  land, 
and  at  the  request  of  the  Exchequer  which  charges  him  with 
neglecting  to  follow  the  instructions  he  had  received."* 
And  as  the  complaints  were  made  immediately  on  his 
touching  the  soil  of  Spain,  the  arrest  followed  without  delay. 
In  fact,  Simao,  in  his  letter  of  August  2,  says  :  "This  weeks, 
pilot  arrived  ....  named  Cabot .  .  .the  pilot  is  kept  a  pris- 
oner.'^ 

At  the  end  of  the  Proofs  of  Vasquez  and  of  Cabot  there  is 
mention  of  other  "Informaciones,"  but  unfortunately  we 
have  only  this  mere  mention.  + 

After  this  it  again  grows  dark  around  us,  and  we  lose 
sight  of  every  thing.  We  only  know  that  in  May,  1531, 
Cabot  was  at  liberty  on  bail,  §  and  that  in  February  of  the 

*  "  Manda  V.  M.  que  le  hagamos  saber  la  cabsa  tie  la  prision  de  Sebastian 
Caboto.    El  fue  preso  a  pedimiento  de  algunos  parientes  de  algunas  personas, 

que  dicen  que  es  oulpado  en  sus  muertes,  y  por  oiros  que  desteiro,  y  tambien 
a  pedimiento  del  fiscal,  por  no  baber  uuardado  las  iustrucioues  que  levo— ." 
Navarrete,  Coleciou,  T.  V.  p.  333. 

f  "  Esta  somana  cbegon  aqui  hi  piloto  .  .  .  .  o  quval  se  cbama  gabote  .... 
o  piloto  esta  presso  .  .  .  ."  See  App.  xli. 

%  At  the  end  of  Vasquez's  Proofs  we  read  :  "Demas  desta  provanca  con- 
tenida  eu  esta  relation  ay  ciertasynformaciones  bechassyn  parte  de  las  quales 
se  haze  mas  larga  mincion  eu  la  Relation  quesia  sacada  de  la  provanca  que 
caboto  hizo  en  esta  causa." 

" esta  bien  sacada  en  lo  sustancial=*Hay  una  rubrica." 

And  at  the  end  of  Cabot's : — "De  mas  de  la  provanca  hecba  en  plenario 
juyzio  por  Sebastian  caboto  e  por  e]  fiscal  e  por  catalina  vasquez,  ay  una 
ynformacion  que  se  hizo  ante  los  oficiales  de  la  casa  de  la  coutratacion  de 
sivilla  esta  tomada  syn  parte  en  juyzio  .  .  .  rio  presentole  catalina  vasquez  fue 
recebida  y  hecha  eu  dos  dias  del  mes  de  Agosto  de  mill  e  quinieutos  y  treinta 
anos  " 

"Ay  otra  ynformacion  hecha  de  officio  por  los  oficiales  de  la  casa  de  la  cou- 
tratacion de  Sevilla  para  saber  que  se  hizo  en  el  viaje  de  la  dicha  armada 
etc." 

"Ay  otra  yuformacion  sumaria  hecha  sin  parte  a  pedimiento  de  Sebastian 
caboto  ante  la  justicia  hordinaria  de  la  gibdad  de  sevilla  sobre  lo  hecho  y 
achaecido  en  el  viaje  de  tarsis  etcetera  que  hizo  el  niche  Sebastian  caboto 
tomose  asyete  dias  del  mes  de  A^ost.o  de  mill  e  quinieutos  y  treynta  anos." 

£  This  is  mentioned  in  a  report  of  the  Council  of  the  Indies  to  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.  dated  May  1G,  1531. 


254  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

following  year,  the  Council  of  the  Indies  sentenced  him 
to  two  years'  exile  at  Oran  for  excesses  committed  in  the 
course  of  his  voyage.*  But  as  we  have  a  letter  of  his  from 
Seville  dated  June  25,  1533,  by  which  it  appears  that  he 
was  in  full  freedom,  we  must  conclude  that  the  sentence  was 
reviewed,  or  the  Emperor  must  have  intervened  to  shorten 
the  punishment.  This  letter  of  Cabot's  is  directed  to  Juan  de 
Samano  the  Emperor's  secretary.  Leaving  for  another  place 
what  can  be  better  said  elsewhere,  we  shall  only  say  of  it  here 
what  concerns  the  present  period.  Severe  family  afflictions 
were  added  to  those  of  the  expedition  and  prosecution.  Writ- 
ing to  Samano,  Cabot  excuses  himself  for  delay  in  discharging 
a  certain  commission  from  Samano,  on  account  of  the  death 
of  his  daughter,  and  his  wife's  illness,  and  begs  him  to  write  to 
the  Council  of  the  Indies  urging  the  payment  of  a  third  part 
of  his  salary  in  advance,  so  that  he  may  discharge  the  debts 
which  detain  him  at  Seville. f 

This  is  the  last  mention  that  can  be  found  of  any  child  of 
Cabot's  ;  and  from  his  manner  of  expressing  himself,  it  would 
seem  that  he  was  speaking  of  an  only  daughter.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  but  that  the  poor  girl  and  her  mother  were  vic- 
tims of  the  suffering  caused  by  his  afflictions.  The  mother 
was  taken  ill,  the  daughter,  more  tender  and  affectionate, 
sealed  with  her  life  the  share  she  took  in  her  father's  sorrows. 
Nor  could  his  own  strong  fibre  resist  all  these  blows  ;  but  he 
also  fell  sick.:); 


The  notice  referred  to  in  the  Memorial  which  the  Council  of  the  Indies 
sent  to  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  under  date  of  May  16,  1531.  "Manda  V.  M. 
que  le  hagamos  saber  la  cabsa  de  la  prision  de  Sebastian    Caboto.    El  fue 

preso y  dada  la  corte  por  carcel  con  jianzas." — Navarrete,  Colecc. 

T.   V.,  p.  333. 

*  Navarrete,  Biblioteca  Maritima.  T.  ii,  p.  699.  I  take  this  citation  from 
Harrisse,  not  having  been  able  to  get  Navarrete's  text. 

f'Sefior  suplico  a  vuestra  merced  me  aga  merced  deescrivir  a  estos  Senores 
oficiales  de  la  casa  de  coutrataciou  que  me  socorran  con  un  tercio  de  my 
salario  adelantado  para  que  me  pueda  desempechar  de  aqui  .  .  .  .  "  See  App. 
xlii. 

%  "  Suplico  a  vuestra  merced  me  perdone  por  no  averla  acabado  mas  presto 
yten  verdad  sino  fuera  por  la  muerte  de  mi  hija  y  por  la  dolencia  de  my 
muger  y  mya  dias  ha  que  vuestra  merced  la  hizera  recebido  .  ..."  lb. 


255 

A  break  in  the  first  sentence  of  the  letter  shows  the  weight  of 
grief  under  which  his  heart  was  groaning.  It  runs  thus:"On  the 
feast  of  the  glorious  St.  John  I  received  a  letter  from  the  Ade- 
lantado  of  the  Canaries,  from  which  it  seems  to  me  that  he  still 
has  a  desire  to  undertake  an  expedition  to  the  Parana  River," 
at  this  name  he  adds,  "which  cost  me  so  dear"*  But  if  the  evils 
he  endured  were  irreparable,  it  must  still  have  been  a  great 
comfort  to  him  to  see  the  government  and  private  individuals 
turning  to  him  again,  after  making  him  undergo  such  great 
humiliation,  recognizing  the  superiority  of  his  genius  and 
knowledge  over  those  of  all  others.  For  that  Adelantado  applied 
to  him  for  advice  concerning  his  intended  expedition,  and  Sa- 
mano  had  made  a  request  of  him  for  a  map;  and  Cabot  answers 
him  that  he  has  finished  it  already  and  has  two  more  prepared, 
one  for  the  Emperor  and  the  other  for  the  members  of  the 
Council  of  the  Indies,  f 

Before  proceeding  further,  justice  requires  us  to  pause 
here  to  take  our  last  farewell  of  Catharine  Medrano,  Sebastian 
Cabot's  brave  wife.  Who  she  was,  o>?  what  nation  or  country, 
and  when  married  to  Cabot,  is  all  alike  unknown.  But  her 
name  and  surname  indicate  a  Spaniard,  at  least  by  descent. 
The  first  time  her  name  appears  is  in  a  document  of  the  date 
of  October  25, 1525,  by  which  Cabot  obtained  that  a  life  annu- 
ity of  25,000  maravedis  payable  to  him  should  be  transferred 
to  her  for  her  life,  in  case  of  his  death  during  the  expedition  he 
was  then  preparing.}  It  appears  again  indirectly  in  the  suit 
brought  against  her  husband,  and  this  brief  appearance  shows 


*  "recebi  una  carta  del  adelantado  de  car.aria  por  la  qual  me  pareee  queto- 
davia  tiene  gana  de  tomar  la  empresa  del  rio  de  paraua  que  tanto  me  questa.  " 
lb. 

f"  Senor  la  carta  que  vuestra  inerced  me  envio  a  mandar  que  yriese  ya  la  tengo 
acabada con  ofas  d«>s  que  tengo  fecho  para  su  magestad " 

\  Cedula  de  Toledo  25  octobre  1525, 

PorquantoCaboto  ha  r.nundado  en  Catalina  Medrano  su  imiger  los  25,000  de 
su  ayuda  de  costa,  suplicando  que  como  el  los  tenia  por  su  vida,  losgoce  ella 
por  la  suya  della  :  "  por  que  si  dios  fuese  servido  que  el  muriese  en  el  viaje  e 
armacia  que  agora  hace  por  nuestro  mandato  i  en  nuestro  servicio  al  descubri- 
miento  de  las  islas  de  Tarsis  e  Oflr  e  al  Catayo  oriental,  tenga  su  muger  eso 
para  mantenerse."Asi  se  manda. 

M.  S.  di  Mufios  :  1/idtas,  1524-1525-1526-77— Est.  23  gr.  fol.  165. 


256  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

her  to  have  been  a  woman  most  attached  to  the  glory  and  in- 
terest of  her  husband,  an  active,  resolute,  and  powerful  assist- 
ant in  his  work,  a  feared  and  fearful  enemy  to  his  enemies.  It 
is  they  that  drag  her  name  into  public  now  and  then,  and  cer- 
tainly not  for  eulogistic  purposes.  But  under  the  exaggeration 
of  passion  and  enmity  there  is  clearly  defined  a  strong  woman's 
character,  worthy  of  the  man  to  whom  she  was  united.  We 
have  seen  that  Vasquez  in  the  fifth  interrogatory  of  her 
proofs  not  only  accuses  Medrano  equally  with  her  husband  of 
enmity  against  her  ( Vasquez's)son,  but  charges  Catharine  with 
employing  persons  to  kill  him,  and  ends  by  accusing  Cabot 
of  being  ruled  by  his  wife's  opinion  and  only  doing  as  she 
wishes.*  Although  none  of  the  witnesses  confirms  the  charge 
of  the  attempted  murder,  as  to  her  busying  herself  with  her 
husband's  affairs,  and  his  acquiescence  in  her  counsel  and  pro- 
posals, all  but  one,  who  says  he  knows  nothing  about  it,  agree 
in  testifying  affirmatively,  according  to  their  judgment  of 
what  they  had  often  seen  at  his  house. f 

As  the  passion  and  bitter  enmity  that  had  been  aroused 
against  Cabot  became  calmed,  reason  gradually  resumed  her 
rights  and  public  opinion  rendered  a  juster  judgment  on  the 
bad  result  of  his  expedition.  A  proof  of  it  is  that  Gomara, 
who  like  all  the  other  Spanish  historians  makes  room  in  his 
narrative  for  the  charges  against  him  without  a 'word  in  his 
defence  or  justification,  when  speaking  of  the  unfortunate 
termination  of  the  expedition  expresses  himself  in  these 
words  :  "  Not  so  much,  as  some  say,  through  his  fault  as  the 
fault  of  the  men  he  had  with  him. "J        These  words,  in  their 


"Yten  si  saben  que  .  .  .  .el  dicho  Sebastian  caboto  y  la  dicha  catalina  de  me- 
drano su  muger  . ie  tomaron  grand  odio  y  enemistad  al  dicho  martin 

•neiidez e  aim  la  dicha  catalina  de  medrano  mandava  que  lo  maiasen 

e  ansilo  dixo  e  rogo  a  cimas  personas  e  si  sabeu  quel  dicho  Sebastian  caboto 
3e  rige  y  govierua  per  el  paresger  de  la  dicha  catalina  de  medrano  y  no  haze 
mas  de  lo  quella  quiere." 

fFor  the  sake  of  brevity  I  cite  only  the  words  of  the  seventh  witness:  — 
"  este  testigo  vio  alirunas  veces  en  san  luear  (ie  barrameda  que  la  dicha 
ana  de  medrano  hazia  e  dezia  ant :  dicho  Sebastian  cabot  >  todo  lo  que  queria 
e  por  bien  tenia  sin  quel  dicho  sehastian  calx. to  le  fuese  a  la  mano  y  ella 
mandava  y  hazia  lo  que  queria,  libremente." 

X  "No  tauto,a  lo  que  alguuos  dicen,  por  su  culpa,  como  por  la  de  su  gente. " 
—Can.  lxxxix. 


A  CRITICISM  OF  CABOT.  257 

briefness,  seeing  by  whom  they  were  said,  and  in  what  state  of 
animosity  towards  Cabot,  may  almost  be  regarded  as  a  full 
justification  in  the  judgment  of  the  Spanish  people.  As  to  the 
government,  it  suffices  to  say  that  it  restored  him  completely 
to  his  rank  of  chief  Pilot,  and  not  only  continued  to  have  con- 
stant recourse  to  his  work,  but  when  he  wanted  to  leave  Spain 
for  England,  it  made  great  efforts  to  prevent  him  and  to  force 
him  to  remain. 

But  can  History,  at  whose  tribunal  men  must  answer  not 
only  for  their  intentions,  their  actions,  and  the  hon- 
esty of  their  purposes,  but  also  for  involuntary  errors, 
and  for  insufficient  strength  for  the  weight  of  the  load 
voluntarily  assumed,  which  according  to  the  success  or  fail- 
ure of  every  thing  condemns  the  deliberations  of  prudence  or 
applauds  the  audacity  of  presumption  ;  can  history  declare 
Sebastian  Cabot  free  from  all  blame  in  the  pit  he  fell  into  and 
ruined  his  undertaking  ?  In  the  absence  of  sufficient  data  on 
which  to  base  a  decision,  an  unconditioned  answer  is  not  pos- 
sible. But  from  what  we  know  it  would  not  be  a  rash  judg- 
ment to  incline  to  the  negative.  His  position  was  certainly  a 
fearful  one  in  face  of  the  rebellion  of  his  own  officers,  but  the 
very  fact  that  he  was  able  to  inflict  on  them  a  most  severe 
chastisement  without  any  one  rising  in  their  defence,  shows  us 
that  his  authority  was  still  feared  and  respected,  notwithstand- 
ing the  great  disorder  among  the  ships.  The  revolt  of  the 
crews  on  those  early  expeditions,  whether  from  fear  or  any 
other  cause,  was  often  repeated  ;  and  it  is  no  little  glory  for 
their  leaders  to  have  held  them  to  the  bit  and  compelled 
them,  though  restive,  to  submit  to  the  fresh  labors  and  dan- 
gers of  the  voyage.  Who  does  not  remember  the  revolt  on  the 
ships  against  Christopher  Columbus  ?  But  he  suppressed  it, 
and  a  few  days  after  his  men  would  have  rid  themselves  of  him 
by  murder,  they  were  kneeling  about  him  begging  his  pardon, 
and  applauding  his  firmness  and  genius.  Did  not  Magellan's 
men  also  rebel  against  him?  And  it  was  a  very  different  revolt 
from  that  against  Cabot.  He  was  not  like  Cabot  on  a  way 
already  tried,  but  on  one  entirely  new  ;  the  cold  was  intense, 
the  scarcity  of  food  fearful,  the  sea  constantly  in  storm,  the  sail- 

17 


258  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

ors  wan  with  fright,  and  the  captains  not  less  than  their  men. 
But  he  was  deaf  to  their  entreaties,  their  remonstrances,  and 
their  threats  ;  when  he  perceived  that  they  were  about  to  pro- 
ceed to  open  violence,  he  fell  like  lightning  on  the  chiefs  and 
by  the  severity  of  the  example  maintained  his  authority,  and 
he  won.  Not  by  this  do  I  mean  to  approve,  still  less  to  ap- 
plaud, the  extreme  measures  he  had  recourse  to  ;  I  only  mark 
the  comparison.  The  firmness  which  Cabot  showed  subse- 
quently on  the  voyage  after  he  had  deposed  Rojas  and  the 
other  two,  he  should  have  execised  from  the  first  moment 
that  the  officers  manifested  an  inclination  to  disregard  his 
authority.  It  was  a  great  mistake  to  put  aside  Martin  Men- 
dez  and  give  his  own  enemies  occasion  for  their  accusations  : 
a  most  serious  mistake  mortally  to  offend  a  proud  and  arro- 
gant nature  like  Rojas,  and  then  set  him  at  liberty.  The  loss 
of  the  flag-ship  was  not  his  fault,  and  it  was  this  loss  that  de- 
cided the  failure  of  the  expedition.  If  Cabot's  authority  had 
been  resolute  and  firm  throughout  the  voyage,  it  is  not  at  all 
likely  that  Rodas  would  have  guarantied  with  his  head  the 
safety  of  the  path  to  him  unknown.  Though  fever  destroyed 
his  men  in  the  Bay  of  Saint  Catharine,  and  left  plentiful  seed 
for  more  deaths,  do  we  hazard  any  thing  in  supposing  that  the 
bad  humor  creeping  through  the  fleet  made  them  prolong  un- 
necessarily their  stay  in  that  place  to  complete  the  work,  thus 
leaving  a  greater  chance  for  sickness  ?  On  the  other  hand,  he 
seems  to  me  great  in  all  his  conduct  after  he  had  decided  at 
the  Bay  of  Saint  Catherine  to  remain  on  the  Plata  and  devote 
all  his  energy  to  the  exploration  of  that  river.  The  struggle 
he  had  to  endure  was  such  as  to  overcome  and  crush  a  less 
firm  and  resolute  mind  ;  and  his  energy  which  death  could 
not  subdue  with  the  fear  of  all  perishing  together,  nor  desper- 
ate hunger  in  unknown  and  deserted  places,  nor  the  loss  of 
all  hope  of  aid  or  succor,  this  energy  is  truly  admirable  and 
deserves  to  be  counted  among  the  most  splendid  instances  of 
indomitable  constancy.  But  although  Cabot  was  a  real 
hero  after  the  battle  had  begun,  he  does  not  seem  to  me  to  show 
equal  prudence  and  energy  in  leading  and  governing  his 
forces  prior  to  the  battle. 


RIO  DE  LA  PLATA  NOT  NAMED  BY  CABOT.  259 

But  in  judging  without  having  full  knowledge  of  the  case, 
I  run  a  risk  of  offending  no  less  against  Sebastian  Cabot's 
memory  than  against  history.  It  is  best  then  to  resume  the 
course  of  our  narration. 

But  before  wholly  leaving  the  Plata,  it  is  our  duty  to 
defend  Cabot  against  another  accusation  weighing  on  his 
head.  By  many  writers  it  is  said  and  believed  that  the 
river,  first  called  from  the  name  of  its  discoverer  the  River  of 
Solis,  *  received  its  new  name  of  Rio  de  la  Plata,  which 
means  River  of  Silver,  from  Cabot,  that  he  was  deceived  by 
some  specimens  of  that  metal  which  he  saw  in  possession  of 
the  natives,  and  was  thereby  led  to  believe  that  he  had 
arrived  in  regions  very  rich  in  silver.  Not  to  multiply  quo- 
tations I  will  merely  give  the  words  of  Lardner  in  his  Cyclo- 
paedia :  "Cabot  in  the  meantime,  contrived  to  send  home 
to  the  Emperor  an  account  of  his  proceedings,  and  as  he  had 
found  among  the  savages  of  the  interior  some  ornaments  of 
gold  and  silver,  which  he  easily  obtained  in  exchange  for  var- 
ious trinkets,  he  took  advantage  of  this  slender  circumstance  to 
represent  the  country  as  abounding  in  those  metals  ;  and  in  con- 
formity with  his  description,  he  gave  the  river  the  name  of  La 
Plata.'' 'f  This  charge,  repeated  by  many,  is  without  founda- 
tion of  any  kind.  Biddle  remarks  that  according  to  Gomara 
and  Hakluyt  it  was  the  discoverer  De  Solis  himself  who  gave 
that  name  of  La.  Plata  to  the  river,  having  fallen  into 
the  error  which  others  have  tried  to  impute  to  Cabot.  + 
According  to  Herrera,  however,  the  name  was  given  by  the 
Spaniards  to  the  river  on  account  of  some  pieces  of  silver 
which  Diego  Garcia  brought  from  there,  because  it  was  the 


*  "elrio.que  entonees  llamaran  de  Solis,  y  aora  de  la  Plata." — Herrera,  Dec. 
ii,  lib.  x,  cap.  i,  and  in  another  place  :  "aviendolepreguutadomuchascosas  de 
Rio  de  Solis,  que  dizende  la  Plata."  Dec.  iv,  lib.  x,  cap.  v. 

f  D.  Lardner's,  Cyclopaedia,  vol.  ii,  p.  89. 

%  "Topocon  un  grandissimo  rio  que  los  Naturales  llaman  Paranaguara,  que 
quiere  decir  Rio  como  Mar  o  Aqua  grande  :  vide  en  el  muestra  de  Plata,  i 
nombrolo  de  ella.  "—Gomara,  cap.  xxxix— "  The  first  Spauiard  that  entered 
this  river  and  inhabited  the  same,  was  called  Solis,  who  passed  up  a  hundred 
leagues  into  it,  and  called-  it  by  the  name  of  Rio  de  la  Plata,  that  is  to  say,  The 
River  of  Silver." — Hakluyt,  vol.  iii,  p.  788. 


260  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

first  silver  brought  to  Castile  from  the  Indies.*  But  all  these 
are  contradicted  by  Francisco  de  Rojas,  the  companion  and 
enemy  of  Sebastian  Cabot,  and  his  authority  as  of  a  witness 
present  on  the  spot  must  prevail  over  all  others.  In  his  in- 
terrogatories, where  he  shows  that  Cabot  altered  the  purpose 
and  end  of  the  expedition  through  having  lent  too  credulous 
an  ear  to  the  deceitful  words  of  the  Portuguese  at  Pernambuco, 
who  in  their  King's  interest  wished  to  divert  him  from  going 
to  the  Moluccas,  he  says  that  "they  told  him  that  on  this  coast 
there  was  a  river  which  the  said  Portuguese  call  La  Plata  and 
we  Juan  De  Soils,  that  there  was  much  silver  there  etc."f 
Cabot  then  is  guiltless  of  any  wrong  to  the  memory  of  De 
Solis  so  far  as  regards  the  name  of  the  river  he  discovered. 
That  name,  after  all,  most  likely  had  an  altogether  pop- 
ular origin.  At  the  first  specimens  of  silver  obtained  from 
that  river,  the  quantity  of  the  metal  that  was  expected  to  be 
found  there  must  have  been  exaggerated,  as  usually  happens  ; 
and  just  as  they  said  "Spice  Islands,  Sugar  Island,  Tobacco 
Island"  from  the  special  products  of  those  islands,  and  as  they 
named  from  brazil  wood,  the  vast  region  of  that  name  in 
South  America  ;  in  like  manner  they  came  to  call  the  great 
estuary  discovered  by  Juan  De  Solis  the  River  of  Silver. 

After  these  few  indications  of  the  great  trouble  that  afflicted 
Sebastian  Cabot  on  his  return  to  Spain,  the  darkness  deepens 
around  him.  We  are  told  that  he  was  restored  to  his  position 
as  Master  of  the  pilots,  as  he  was  not  only  above  all  by 
the  authority  of  his  rank,  but  had  no  equal  in  knowledge  of 
matters  pertaining  to  navigation  and  cosmography.  It  was 
his  great  reputation  as  surpassing  all  others  in  his  knowledge 
of  these  branches,  that  made  Ramusio's  Anonymous  eager  to 
know  and  converse  with  him  personally :  and  Ramusio  him- 
self opened  an  epistolary  correspondence  with  him  for  his 


^'Tainbian  Diaajo  Garcia  huvo  alguna  cantitad  de  Plata  de  Ins  Jndios,  desde 
dondese  llamo  este  Rio  de  la  Plata,  porque  fue  la  primera  que  se  traxo  a  Cas- 
tilla  delas  Jndias.  "—Dec.  iv,  lib.  i,  cap   i. 

t  "le  dijeron  como  en  aquella  costa  avia  un  Rio  que  los  dichos  portogueses 
llaraan  de  la  plata  e  nosotros  de  Juan  de  Solis  que  en  el  avia  mucha  plata  etc." 
— No.  7,— See  App.  xxxv. 


CABOT  IN  THE  SERVICE  OF  EDWARD  VI.  261 

great  collection  of  navigations  and  voyages.  In  the  discourse 
held  with  Anonymous,  Cabot  mentioned  various  other 
voyages  which  he  said  he  had  made  since  his  return  from  La 
Plata,  but  what  they  were  and  in  what  direction  we  are  com- 
pletely ignorant.*  Nufio  De  Guzman  doubtless  alluded 
to  one  of  these  voyages  when  he  informed  Charles  V  that  a 
fleet  commanded  by  Sebastian  Cabot  had  passed  the  coast  of 
Astatlan  ;  but  uncertainty  as  to  the  date  of  his  letter  leaves  it 
impossible  to  fix  the  time  of  this  navigation. f  The  date  af- 
fixed to  his  Planisphere  of  1544  tells  us  that  he  was  in  Seville 
that  year.J  The  following  year,  1545,  we  find  him  employed 
together  with  Pedro  Mexio,  Alfonso  Chaves,  and  Diego  Gu- 
tierrez to  examine  Pedro  de  Medina's  Arte  del  Navigar.§  This 
is  the  last  date  known  of  his  residence  in  Spain. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

Return  to  England. 

In  1548  we  find  Sebastian  Cabot  recently  returned  to  Eng- 
land. Nothing  is  told  us  of  the  reason  of  this  new  change, 
but  we  can  infer  it  with  certainty  from  what  happened  after- 
wards. The  circumstances  of  his  life  and  of  the  times  had 
withdrawn  and  for  many  years  withheld  him  from  his  natural 
field  of  study  and  action  ;  but  although  wholly  occupied 
with  matters  concerning  southern  seas  and  lands,  he  had  never 
wholly  diverted  his  thoughts  from  the  fogs  and  frosts  of  the 
north,  where  his  mind  was  first  opened  to  the  enthusiasm  of 
discovery,  and  his  heart  had  first  palpitated  with  the  delights 
and  sorrows  that  accompany  it.     In  Spain  he  felt  he  was  reap- 


*  "  Feci  poi  molte  altre  navigation!  le  quali  pretermetto  .  .  .  .  "  —  App.  xix. 

f  "  Colpccion  de  Documentor  de  Indias,  t.  xiii— p.  409—"  V.  Harrisse,  Jean 
et  Sebastien  Cabot,  p.  125. 

%  "  Sebastian  Cahoto  eanitan  y  pil  >to  mavor  de  la  S  cc.  m.  del  Imperator 
don  Carlos  ....  hizo  esta  figura  .  .  .  .  anno  de  J.  C.  de  M.  D.  xliiii." 

§  American  Exposition  Catalogue,  B.  52. 


262  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

ing  where  others  had  reaped  before,  whilst  in  the  northern  seas 
the  glory  was  all  his  own  :  he  had  first  pointed  out  and  opened 
to  others  the  way  thither.  How  often,  after  long  hours  of 
study  and  labor  on  the  seas  and  navigations  of  the  south 
must  his  wearied  mind  have  flown  to  those  of  the  north,  rest- 
ing from  its  fatigue  by  stopping  to  meditate  on  the  path  the 
ship  might  find  in  that  direction  !  The  only  state  that  could 
lend  him  aid  for  the  undertaking  was  England  :  and  the 
stormy  reign  of  Henry  VIII  turned  all  minds  to  other  thoughts 
than  of  navigation  and  discovery.  The  disorders  of  that 
government  must  have  come  to  Cabot's  ears  and  sounded 
worse  than  they  actually  were,  as  Spain  was  directty  injured  by 
that  King's  madness  ;  for  his  repudiated  wife  was  a  Spaniard 
and  aunt  to  Charles  V,  and  there  was  more  living  and  general 
zeal  for  the  Catholic  Religion  in  Spain  than  in  any  other 
country.  It  is  then  easy  to  imagine  what  must  have  been  said 
at  the  court  and  throughout  the  Kingdon  of  Spain  concern- 
ing so  many  wives  married  and  divorced,  so  many  learned 
and  holy  men  given  into  the  hangman's  hands,  and  the 
scandals  of  every  nature  which  at  that  time  afflicted  England. 
But  in  1547  Henry  VIII  died,  and  the  new  reign  of  Ed- 
ward VI  seemed  from  its  commencement  to  be  the  dawn  of  a 
new  era  for  the  English  Marine.  The  English  had  never  given 
up  the  intention  of  pushing  to  the  north-west  by  some  way 
that  would  give  them  a  passage  to  the  eastern  regions  of 
Cathay,  and  they  had  made  several  attempts.  Thus  in  1527 
two  ships  sailed  with  supplies  of  every  thing  needed  ;  but  the 
expedition  was  unable  to  get  beyond  53°  N.  L.  :  one  ship  was 
lost  and  the  other  returned  without  achieving  any  important 
result.  In  1536,  another  expedition  sailed,  but  this  was  more 
unfortunate  than  the  former,  and  left  no  trace  of  itself  beyond 
the  memory  of  the  famine  suffered  and  the  horrors  that  fol- 
lowed it.  *  To  give  a  strong  impulse  to  the  new  expeditions 
that  were  thought  of,  the  bad  result  of  such  expeditions  having 
destroyed  the  courage  of  English  sailors  to  put  their  skill  a- 
gain  to  the  proof,  a  man  was  needed  who  would  be  able  to  re- 

*  Hakluyt,  iii,  129— Purchas,  iii,  809. 


CABOT  IN  THE  SERVICE  OF  EDWARD  VI.  263 

store  courage  and  by  confidence  in  his  own  ability  inspire 
confidence  in  the  heart  of  others.  This  man  for  England 
could  only  be  Sebastian  Cabot. 

From  a  royal  ordinance  of  October  9,  1547,  it  seems  that 
steps  to  secure  Cabot's  return  to  England  were  taken  in  the 
first  year  of  King  Edward's  reign,  and  that  an  agreement  was 
had.  By  that  the  King  orders  the  payment  of  a  certain 
"  amount  for  bringing  Cabot  to  England."  *  The  mistake  in 
transcribing  the  name  throws  no  doubt  on  Sebastian  Cabot's 
being  the  pilot  that  was  asked  for  and  expected.  But  his  de- 
parture from  Spain  must  have  undergone  unlooked-for  delay, 
for  a  new  decree  of  King  Edward  gives  us  to  understand  that 
Sebastian  was  not  in  England  till  towards  the  end  of  1548. 
This  decree  is  of  January  6,  1549,  and  by  it  the  King,  after 
setting  forth  the  services  theretofore  rendered  by  Sebastian 
Cabot  to  England,  and  those  then  anticipated,  establishes  in 
his  favor,  for  the  term  of  his  natural  life,  an  annuity  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty-six  pounds  sterling,  thirteen  shillings,  and 
four-pence,  and  orders  the  payment  to  date  back  from  the 
feast  of  St.  Michael,  Archangel,  of  the  previous  year,  that  is, 
from  September  29,  1548. f  The  day  from  which  the  pension 
began  to  run,  indicates,  as  it  seems  to  me,  the  date  of  Se- 
bastian's arrival  in  England.  As  to  the  amount  of  the  pension 
granted  him,  it  should  be  observed  that  it  would  be  very  mean 
if  taken  at  the  present  value  of  money,  but  in  Hakluyt's  opin- 
ion, and  he  wrote  soon  after  the  fact,  it  had  a  very  generous 
appearance  in  those  days.  "J 

*  "  October  9th,  1547. 

.  "Mr.  Peckham  had  warrant  for  100  li  for  the  transporting  of  one  Shabot  & 
Pilot  to  come  out  of  Hispain  to  serve  and  inhabit  in  England.  "  Extract  from 
the  minutes  of  the  Privy  Council  of  Edward  VI. 

f  "  Et  ulterius  de  uberiori  gratia  nostra  ac  de  advisamento  et  consensu 
praedictis  damus  et  per  praesentes  concedimus  prsefato  Sebastiano  Cabotse,  tot 
et  tantas  denariorum  summas  ad  quotet  quantas  dicta  annuitas  sive  annalis 
reditus .  .    ...  .   .a  festo  Sancti  Michaelis  Archangeli  ultimo  praeterito  hue 

usque  seextenditetattingit  habendaset  recipiendas] "  -    V.   App. 

xlv. 

%  In  the  Dedication  of  the  first  volume  of  his  enlarged  work  to  Lord  Charles 
Howard,  High  Admiral  of  England,  lb.  "King  Edward  the  sixth  .  .  .  advanced 
the  worthy  and  excellent  Sebastian  Caboto  to  be  grand  Pilot  of  England, 


264 


THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 


What  negotiations  and  agreements  passed  between  the  Eng- 
lish government  and  Cabot  we  know  not.  It  is  generally  said, 
on  Hakluyt's  authority,  that  Sebastian  was  appointed  Grand 
Pilot  of  England;  *  but  Biddle  labors  to  show  by  many  argu- 
ments that  this  office  was  not  instituted  till  afterwards.  +  But 
as  his  doubt  concerns  the  form  not  the  substance  of  the  mat- 
ter, for  he  rather  believes  that  the  authority  given  to  Cabot 
was  greater  than  that  afterwards  conferred  upon  those  who  ob- 
tained the  high  position  of  grand  Pilot,  it  suffices  simply  to 
mention  a  question  which  may  be  of  interest  for  the  general 
history  of  the  English  marine,  but  is  of  no  material  importance 
for  the  special  history  of  Sebastian  Cabot. 

Under  whatever  title,  then,  he  was  restored  to  the  English 
service,  there  is  no  question  but  what  he  held  a  very  high 
rank  in  it.  And  what  authority  his  counsel  and  judgment  at 
once  acquired  is  shown  by  the  instance  of  James  Alday,  who 
had  presented  a  certain  plan  of  his  for  a  voyage  to  the  east, 
and  obtained  the  necessary  approval  of  the  king  ;  but  Sebas- 
tian Cabot  giving  an  adverse  opinion,  the  license  was  with- 
drawn, as  Alday  himself  mournfully  relates  J  Purchas,  from 
an  inscription  which  he  found  on  a  portrait  of  Sebastian 
Cabot  in  the  royal  palace  of  Whitehall,  supposed  that  he  had 
been  knighted,  and  on  this  presumption  in  the  course  of  his 
work  gives  him  the  title  of  Sir.  The  inscription  read  :  Effi- 
gies Sebastiani  Caboti  angli,  filii  Joannis  Caboti  militis  aurati.  § 
True,  militis  aurati  might  be  referred  to  the  father  as  well  as  to 
the  son,  but  to  decide  between  them,  it  is  far  more  likely  that 
the  honor  was  conferred  on  the  son,  as  Purchas  interpreted  it, 
and  that  he  obtained  it  just  at  this  time  when  he  returned  to 
the  service  of  England  with  the  fame  of  the  services  rendered 
to  Spain.  But  Biddle  denies  that  the  honor  was  conferred  on 


allowing  him  a  most  bountifull  pension  of  166  li.  VI  s.  VIII  d.  by  the  yeere 
during  his  life." 

*  See  preceding  note. 

f  Memoir,  bk.  i,  ch.  15,  p.  176,  and  Appendix,  p.  311. 

J". ...the  very  trueth  is  that  I  was  from  tlie  same  voyage  lested  by  the  Prince's 
letters,  which  my  master,  Sebastian  Gabota  had  obtained  for  that  purpose  to  my 
great  griefe.  "  —  Hakluyt,  vol.i,  part.ii,  p.  463. 

§  Purchas,  vol.  iv,  p.  1812. 


cabot's  position  in  the  English  service.  265 

him,  and  maintains  by  many  examples  of  the  expression  that 
was  usual  in  those  times,  that  it  would  have  been  equitis  au- 
ra f  I  and  not  militis*  But  whether  he  was  knighted  or  not, 
Sebastian  Cabot  had  now  risen  to  such  greatness,  that  he 
could  have  gained  or  lost  nothing  by  it.  It  would  not  do, 
however,  to  omit  all  mention  of  it  in  his  history. 

The  pressing  insistance  of  Spain  to  get  Sebastian  Cabot 
back  shows  clearly  that  his  departure  was  unexpected, 
and  that  he  only  discovered  himself  when  he  felt  safe  on  Eng- 
lish soil.  And  it  is  easy  to  understand  that  this  fact  must 
have  produced  a  very  painful  impression  in  Spain  ;  for  the 
first  thought  to  arise  in  the  mind  of  every  one  would  be 
that  the  entrance  of  the  Grand  Pilot  into  the  service  of 
England  was  connected  with  some  maritime  expedition 
that  was  contemplated,  and  it  was  for  Spain's  best  interest  to 
retain  control  as  long  as  she  could  of  the  new  routes  of  com- 
merce. And  an  enterprise  led  by  Cabot  for  the  account  of  an- 
other Power  was  fraught  with  all  the  more  danger  from  his 
being  privy  to  all  the  maritime  and  commercial  secrets  of 
Spain.  No  one,  then,  will  blame  her  for  being  suspicious  of 
this  sudden  defection  of  her  Grand  Pilot  and  fearing  every 
thing.  But  let  us  hasten  to  say  at  once  that  among  all  the 
charges  so  freely  brought  against  Cabot  by  Spanish  historians, 
there  was  never  the  slightest  allusion  to  his  having  given  any 
reason  to  believe  that  he  was  wanting  in  the  delicacy  due  to 
the  office  he  had  held. 

As  soon  as  Spain  knew  that  the  Grand  Pilot  had  left,  she 
made  a  strong  appeal  to  the  English  government  to  order  his 
immediate  return.  The  appeal  was  made  through  Sir  Thomas 
Cheyne  and  Sir  Philip  Hoby,  who  were  on  a  mission  for  Eng- 
land to  Charles  V  at  Brussels.  Through  them  the  Emperor 
on  the  25th  of  November,  1549,  asked  England  to  send  Se- 
bastian Cabot,  because  he  " is  a  v  (erie)  necessary  man 

for  the  emperour  whose  servaunt  he  is  (and)  hath  a  pencion  of 
him  .  .  .  "  f  That  Cabot  on  entering  the  service  of  England 
gave  up  his  emoluments  in  Spain  is  obvious  and  natural. 


*  Biddle,  bk.  i,  p.  181.  t  See  App.  xlviii. 


266  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

But  from  the  Emperor's  words  it  is  seen  that  Spain  had  not 
accepted  his  resignation,  but  regarded  him  as  still  in  her  ser- 
vice and  pay.  This  is  more  clearly  shown  by  the  fact  that 
the  chair  of  cosmography  in  the  Casa  de  Contratacion  at  Se- 
ville being  vacated  by  his  departure,  no  successor  was 
appointed,  but  the  pilot  Alonzo  de  Chavas  was  employed  to  fill 
it  during  his  absence  in  England.  *  It  is  quite  clear  that  the 
Emperor  had  understood  that  the  quitting  of  his  service  was 
entirely  the  work  of  England,  and  therefore  in  requesting  di- 
rectly from  her  the  return  of  his  servant  and  stipendiary, 
he  sought  to  force  her  to  send  him  back  herself.  But  crafty 
as  the  Spanish  astuteness  was  in  pushing  forward  and  com- 
promising England,  it  was  met  by  equal  skill  on  her  part  in 
drawing  back  and  sheltering  herself.  The  answer  to  the  im- 
perial request  was  sent  to  Sir  Philip  Hoby  who  remained  as 
English  Ambassador  in  Flanders.  It  was  dated  at  Greenwich 
April  21,  1550,  and  ran  thus  :  "And  as  for  Sebastian  Cabot, 
answere  was  first  made  to  the  said  Ambassador  that  he  was 
not  deteined  heere  by  us,  but  that  he  of  himself  refused  to  go 
either  into  Spayne,  or  to  the  Emperor,  and  that  he  being  of 
that  mind  and  the  King's  subjecte,  no  reason  nor  equitie 
wolde  that  he  shude  be  forced  or  compelled  to  go  against  his 
will.  Upon  the  which  answere  the  said  Ambassador  said, 
that  if  this  were  Cabot's  answere,  then  he  required  that 
the  said  Cabot,  in  the  presence  of  some  one  whom  we  coud 
appoint,  might  speke  with  the  said  Ambassador,  and  declare 
unto  him  this  to  be  his  mind  and  answere.  Whereunto  we 
condescended,  and  at  the  last  sent  the  said  Cabot  with  Rich- 
ard Shelley  to  the  Ambassador,  that  he  was  not  minded  to  go 
neither  into  Spayne  nor  to  the  Emperor.  Nevertheless  having 
knowledge  of  certein  things  verie  necessarie  for  the  Emperor's 
knowledge,  he  was  well  contented  for  the  good  will  he 
here  the  Emperor  to  write  his  minde  unto  him,  or  declare 
the  same  here  to  anie  such  as  shude  be  appointed  to  here 


*  "  Se  le  mando  regentar  la  Catedra  de  Cosmografia,  que  Sebastian  caboto 
ausente  en  la  lnglaterra,  habia  ensefiado  en  la  Casa  de  Contratacion  de  Se- 
villa."— Navarrete,  Bibl.  Marit,  lib.  ii,  p.  16. 


CABOT  REFUSES  TO  GO  BACK  TO  SPAIN.  267 

him.  Whereunto  the  said  Ambassador  asked  the  said  Ca- 
bot, in  case  the  king's  Majestie  or  we  shude  command  him 
to  go  to  the  Emperor,  wheter  then  he  wold  not  do  it  ;  where- 
unto  Cabot  mad  answere,  as  Shelley  reportethe,  that  if 
the  King's  Highnes  or  we  did  command  him  so  to  do,  then 
he  knew  weli  noughe  what  had  to  do.  But  it  semets  that  the 
Ambassador  tooke  his  answere  of  Cabot  to  sound  as  though 
Cabot  had  answered,  that  being  comanded  by  the  King's 
Highnes  or  us,  that  then  he  wolde  be  contented  to  go  to  the 
Emperor,  wherein  we  rekon  the  said  Ambassador  to  be 
deceived,  so  that  he  was  fullie  determined  not  to  there  at  all." 
The  Letter  is  to  be  found  among  the  Harley  MSS.  * 

That  there  was  an  agreement  with  Cabot  how  he  should 
act,  so  as  to  succeed  in  their  plan  without  giving  the  Emperor 
any  grounds  for  a  justifiable  complaint  against  England,  is  evi- 
dent from  the  concluding  words  of  the  ministers  to  the  Eng- 
lish representative,  where  they  confidently  give  the  true  mean- 
ing to  the  ambiguous  words  of  Cabot,  "then  he  knew  well 
enough  what  he  had  to  do.  "  But  this  did  not  cause  Spain 
to  give  up  all  thought  of  getting  him  back,  andJwe  find  the  Em- 
peror on  September  9, 1553,  making  another  attempt,  writing 
for  the  purpose  to  Mary  Tudor,  who  had  succeeded  her  brother 
Edward  on  the  throne  of  England.  But  the  tone  of  this  letter 
is  quite  different  from  that  of  the  one  of  November  25,  1549. 
This  time  the  emperor  does  not  insist  as  master,  but  asks  the 
Queen  of  England  as  a  favor  to  give  Sebastian  Cabot,  formerly 
Pilot  of  the  Spanish  realms,  now  removed  to  and  residing 
in  England  with  the  consent  and  approval  of  the  King  of  Spain, 
permission  to  come  to  him  as  he  has  need  to  communicate 
with  him  concerning  some  matters  affecting  the  safety  of  the 
navigation  of  the  Spanish  realms,  f  The  previous  letter  of 
1549  shows  whether  the  Emperor  spoke  truthfully  or  not, 
when  he  asserted  that  Cabot  had  removed  to  England  with  the 
consent  and  approval  of  the  King  of  Spain;  but  by  this  euphemism 
the  Emperor  defended  his  self-love  which  had  been  hurt  by 
Cabot's  flight  and  his  refusal  to  return.  %      But  this  attempt 


•  No.  523;  Art.  2.  —  Biddle,  p.  175.      f  App.  xlviii.      %  Harrisse,  p.  363,  n. 


268  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

was  no  more  successful  than  the  other,  and  Cabot  did  not  stir 
from  England.  An  invincible  rancor  against  him  was  felt  in 
Spain,  and  from  the  point  of  view  of  patriotic  sentiment,  they 
were  not  to  blame.  The  Spanish  historians  are  a  clear  and 
constant  evidence  of  this  ill-feeling,  for  about  this  time  and  a 
little  later,  they  speak  of  him  and  of  the  share  he  had  in  the 
voyages  and  discoveries  of  Spain,  in  terms  through  which  tran- 
spires, as  we  have  elsewhere  observed,  that  animosity  which 
usually  hides  or  veils  the  undeniable  merit  of  our  enemies, 
while  on  the  contrary  exaggerating  their  defects,  throwing  into 
shadow  the  attenuating  circumstances  and  justifications. 

In  the  record  of  privy  expenses  of  King  Edward  there  are 
found  entered  under  the  year  1550,  two  hundred  pounds  ster- 
ling in  favor  of  Sebastian  Cabot.* 

We  know  not  why  or  for  what  purpose  this  amount  was  paid 
him;  perhaps  it  was  with  a  general  view  to  binding  him  more 
firmly  to  the  interests  of  England. 

The  next  year,  1551,  we  find  Cabot  treating  with  Venice 
for  his  services.  Why  was  this  ?  As  the  documents  we  possess 
do  not  inform  us,  we  can  only  look  to  the  general  circum- 
stances of  the  time  for  some  answer  to  this  question.  First,  let 
us  see  how  matters  were  proceeding,  and  then  try  to  obtain  the 
answer  desired  from  the  general  circumstances  of  those  times. 

James  Soranzo,  Venetian  ambassador  to  England,  under 
date  of  August  17, 1551,  communicated  to  that  Kepublic  cer- 
tain proposals  made  to  him  by  Sebastian  Cabot  for  making 
an  expedition  in  the  name  and  under  the  flag  of  St.  Mark. 
Soranzo's  dispatch  cannot  be  found,  but  we  have  the  reply 
made  by  the  Ten,  dated  the  12th  of  the  following  September, 
and  with  the  aid  of  this  we  may  be  able  to  restore  the  course 
of  things  with  tolerable  correctness.  Cabot,  then,  made  known 
to  Soranzo  "his  plan  of  navigation"  and  "gave  him  detailed 

*  "An  acquittaunce  to  the  Treasurer  and  Barons  of  Thexcheker  for  the 
payment  of  diverse  somes  of  monie  by  the  counsailes  warrant  as  follower!),  from 
the  feast  of  Easter  an°  4  Ed.  VI.  untill  michalmas  following  f°.  66,  etc.  To  Se- 
bastian Cabote\c\\\  byway  of  the  K.  M.  rewarde.— "M.  S.  Reg.  18  G.  XXIV,— 
cited  by  J.  G.  Nichols,  Literary  Remains  of  King  Edward  VI.  T.  I,  CXXXIX. 
London,  1857. 


NEGOTIATIONS  WITH  VENICE.  269 

information  concerning  himself  and  his  circumstances."  The 
first  difficulty  to  get  over  was  to  find  a  way  for  Cabot  to  go  to 
Venice  and  explain  his  views  in  person,  without  exciting  the 
suspicion  of  England.  The  means  devised  was  this.  Cabot 
was  to  say  that  he  had  some  old  debts  due  to  him  at  Venice, 
and  certain  property  which  he  wished  to  recover  :  but  as  the 
affair  would  be  very  difficult  to  transact  at  such  great  distance, 
he  should  request  the  English  government  to  interpose  its 
good  offices  with  the  Republic  of  Venice  to  give  him  special 
aid  to  expedite  the  affair.  It  was  so  done.  The  English 
government,  in  compliance  with  his  request,  wrote  to  its  am- 
bassador at  Venice,  who  was  asked  to  appear  before  the 
Council  of  Ten  and  make  the  recommendation.  One  of  the 
secretaries  of  the  council  was  John  Baptist  Ramusio,  the  fa- 
mous compiler  of  Voyages  and  Navigations,  a  personal  friend, 
through  epistolary  correspondence,  of  Sebastian  Cabot.  The 
recommendation  was  put  in  his  hands,  he  being  designated, 
it  would  seem,  by  Cabot  himself,  as  one  in  whom  he  had  full 
confidence,  and  who  would  take  an  interest  in  the  matter.  * 
Cabot  certainly  designated  the  good  Ramusio  because  he 
knew  how  zealous  he  was  for  all  that  concerned  discovery,  and 
he  could  safely  count  on  his  support.  The  Council  of  Ten, 
warned  by  Soranzo,  answered  the  English  ambassador  that 
they  were  very  glad  to  learn  in  what  esteem  and  confidence  a 
subject  of  the  Republic  was  held  in  England,  and  that  they 
would  be  eager  to  satisfy  the  wishes  of  Cabot  and  the  English 
ministers.  But  at  the  same  time  they  began  to  hold  up  their 
hands,  observing  that  the  question  of  these  credits  and  prop- 
erty ran  back  more  than  half  a  century  ;  that  all  who  could 
have  told  any  thing  about  them  were  dead,  and  no  written  rec- 
ord of  them  remained.  At  any  rate,  they  would  at  once  order 
Ramusio  to  commence  the  necessary  searches  with  all  dili- 
gence, f 


*  "  Delivered  to  one  of  their  secretaries  Baptista  "Ramusio,  whom  Cabot  put 
in  trust,  such  evidences  as  came  to  his  hands."  App.  1. 

f  "They  have  commanded  Ramusio  to  eansearch  with  diligence  any  and  all 
Knowledge  possible  that  may  stand  to  the  said  Sebastian's  profit  and  obtain- 
ing of  right."  From  the  English  Ambassador's  dispatch  communicating  to  bis 
government  the  answer  he  bad  received  from  the  council  of  Ten.   lb. 


270  THE  LIFE  OP  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

The  eagerness  with  which  the  Council  of  Ten  conducted  the 
affair  proves  their  desire  of  bringing  it  to  an  end.  The  same 
day  that  the  English  ambassador  presented  the  recommenda- 
tion for  Cabot  they  replied  to  the  ambassador  Soranzo.  They 
first  praised  him  for  his  diligence,  and  charged  him  to  tell 
Cabot  that  "  his  offer  was  most  welcome.  "  Then  referring  to 
the  excuse  devised  for  bringing  Cabot  to  Venice,  they  wrote  : 
"  And  as  to  the  question  asked  of  you  by  their  Lordships, 
about  the  credits  he  pretends  and  the  recovery  of  property, 
you  will  tell  them  that  we  wish  to  do  all  we  can  to  gratify 
his  Majesty  and  their  Lordships,  but  Cabot  not  being  known 
to  any  one  here,  it  will  be  necessary  for  him  to  come  himself 
to  prove  his  identity  and  his  reasons,  the  matters  of  which  he 
speaks  being  very  old,  and  we  have  given  the  same  answer  to 
His  Excellency,  the  ambassador  of  his  Majesty."  And  after  urg- 
ing the  ambassador  to  exert  himself  to  have  the  permission 
given  to  Cabot  to  proceed  to  Venice  as  soon  as  possible,  they 
conclude  by  saying  "  you  will  continue  in  the  meantime  to 
endeavor  to  learn  from  him  in  more  detail  the  plan  of  that 
navigation,  giving  particular  information  of  the  whole  to  the 
chiefs  of  the  Council  of  Ten."  *  On  the  same  day,  September 
12,  the  English  ambassador  likewise  wrote  to  his  government, 
informing  it  of  the  recommendation  made,  and  the  answer 
received,  f 

These  two  letters  contain  all  the  information  we  have  in 
the  matter.  Why  did  it  fall  through  ?  and  by  whose  fault  ? 
We  are  entirely  in  the  dark,  but,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  it  is 
easy  to  see  through  this  darkness,  and  discover  what  hap- 
pened. 

Sebastian  Cabot's  return  to  England  had  been  settled  and 
agreed  on,  as  we  saw,  as  early  as  the  Autumn  of  1547,  and 
we  find  him  in  the  following  year  in  the  service  of  England. 
That  he  went  thither  with  a  plan  fully  prepared  and  agreed 
on  for  what  he  was  expected  to  do,  is  a  thing  too  evident  to 
need  proof.  The  correspondence  with  Venice  was  not  till 
1551,  and  then  he  had  been  three  years  in  England.   During 

*  App.  xlix.  f  App.  1. 


NEGOTIATIONS  WITH  VENICE.  271 

that  time,  what  steps  had  been  taken  to  put  his  plan  in  ex- 
ecution ?  None  whatever.  He  was  just  where  he  had  been 
on  his  return  to  England.  Why  was  this  ?  It  was  owing  to 
the  sad  circumstances  in  which  England  was  then  placed. 
Did  the  future  show  on  the  horizon  any  way  to  greater  hope  ? 
The  future  was  darker  than  the  present :  and  if  the  present 
offered  nothing,  less  still  was  to  be  expected  from  the  future. 
King  Edward  was  a  minor,  and  among  the  persons  who 
stood  nearest  to  him  and  governed  in  his  name,  there  was 
fierce  and  unrelenting  rivalry  for  power.  On  March  20, 
1549,  Thomas  Seymour,  the  King's  ancle  and  grand  admiral 
of  England,  was  dragged  to  the  scaffold  and  beheaded  ;  and  it 
was  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  Somerset,  the  head  of  the  Regency 
with  the  title  of  Protector,  who  sent  him  to  execution  out 
of  fear  of  his  ambition.  Three  years  later,  January  22,  1552, 
the  Duke  Protector  himself  mounted  the  scaffold  through  the 
efforts  and  craft  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  who  coveted  his 
position  as  the  first  in  the  Kingdom  after  the  King.  In  the 
midst  of  this  strife  of  fraud  and  blood,  what  progress  could  be 
made  in  the  peaceful  mission  for  which  Sebastian  Cabot  had 
been  invited  ?  Sebastian's  proposals  to  Venice  were  made  just 
at  the  time  that  the  Duke  of  Somerset  fell  from  his  greatness 
and  met  his  end  at  the  hands  of  the  executioner.  At  that  time, 
I  believe,  Cabot,  hopeless  of  his  future  in  England,  turned 
to  Venice  to  see  if  in  that  quarter,  however  distant  from  the 
field  of  his  operations,  a  way  could  be  found  to  carry  out 
the  great  designs  he  was  revolving  in  his  mind.  But  when  he 
perceived  that  Somerset's  fall  did  not  destroy  the  confidence 
they  had  in  him,  and  that  his  plan  might  still  hope  for  a  suc- 
cessful execution  in  England  ;  then,  I  think,  he  let  the  mat- 
ter drop  at  Venice,  and  pressed  it  no  further  ;  just  as  he  had 
acted  in  Spain,  where  we  saw  him  insist  for  a  moment  on 
his  offer  to  Venice,  and  then  cease  to  prosecute  it.  We  are 
therefore  forced  to  suppose  that  he  only  recurred  to  Venice 
when  in  the  necessity  of  his  circumstances  no  other  course 
seemed  open. 

Looking  at  the  matter  in  this  aspect  (which  I  hold  to  be  un- 
doubtedly the  true  one),  all  the  invective  and  accusation  of 


272  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

treachery  which  Harrisse  heaps  on  him,  as  though  he  wanted 
to  sell  underhand  to  Venice  the  secrets  he  had  learned  in  Eng- 
land, falls  to  the  ground.  No:  Cabot  was  not  a  fickle  man  chang- 
ing his  opinions  from  day  to  day,  still  less  greedy  of  gain  and 
wealth,  ready  to  sell  himself  for  the  best  offer  ;  but  on  the  con- 
trary, a  man  of  genius,  his  whole  mind  enamored  of  a  lofty 
ideal  which  he  sought  to  actualize,  and  not  having  the  means 
himself  to  carry  it  out,  he  chooses  what  seems  to  him  the  best 
way  to  gain  his  end,  and  when  he  finds  this  way  closed 
or  blocked,  he  rushes  to  some  other  road  that  offers  to  reach 
the  goal  he  is  striving  for. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Project  of  Navigation  to  the  North-East. 

Cabot  was  now  nearly  an  octogenarian,  but  his  bodily  fibre 
was  unusually  robust  and  his  mind  as  strong  and  clear  as  in  his 
prime.  And  surely  the  stout  old  man  must  have  felt  himself 
restored  to  youth  when  he  found  himself  again  free  and  un- 
trammelled in  the  field  of  his  greatest  glory,  and  could  open  his 
mind  without  reserve  to  the  bold  enthusiams  of  his  earlier 
days.  But  returning  to  the  glorious  fields  of  his  former  vic- 
tories to  fight  more  battles  there,  the  plan  of  warfare 
which  he  brought  with  him  was  quite  different  from 
that  on  which  he  had  performed  his  first  campaign.  The 
cause  of  this  change  must  be  sought  for  in  the  more  extended 
and  certain  knowledge  on  the  conformation  and  size  of  our 
globe  that  had  since  been  acquired.  When  the  two  Cabots  in 
1497,  in  search  of  a  way  of  communication  with  Asia,  sailed 
to  the  north-west,  they  believed  that  in  this  direction  there 
was  nothing  interposed  between  Europe  and  Asia  except  a  few 
islands,  and  that  the  two  continents  faced  one  another.  But 
now  the  discoveries  of  Balboa,  Pizarro,  Cortez,  Cartier,  and 
the  voyage  of  Magellan  had  shown  that  there  was  a  great  con- 
tinent instead,  and  beyond  that  continent  an  immense  ex- 


IGNORANCE  OF  NORTHERN  GEOGRAPHY.  273 

panse  of  ocean  before  reaching  the  land  of  spices.  The  goal 
of  their  navigation  was  become  too  distant,  and  the  great  dis- 
tance rendered  vain  the  results  hoped  for  from  putting  Eng- 
land in  direct  communication  with  the  -eastern  countries 
of  Asia  by  way  of  the  northern  seas  of  the  west.  This 
consideration  turned  his  thoughts  to  ascertaining  if  it 
was  not  possible  to  open  that  way  of  communication  by 
the  east,  sailing  along  the  northern  lands  of  Europe  and 
Asia. 

To  appreciate  the  value  of  the  question  which  Sebastian 
Cabot  proposed  to  his  learning  and  skill,  we  must  remember 
the  state  of  Geography  in  those  days  in  all  that  related  to  the 
northern  portion  of  Europe.  In  this  we  are  wonderfully  as- 
sisted by  the  chart  which  Cabot  himself  composed  in  1544, 
and  which  as  the  latest  in  date  comprises  the  studies  of  all  the 
others  which  preceded  it,  and  presents  the  most  complete 
picture  of  geographical  knowledge  at  the  time  of  which  our 
narrative  is  now  treating.  "If  we  compare,"  says  a  learned 
writer,  "the  Map  of  the  World  of  Martin  Behaim  and  the 
Planisphere  of  Sebastian  Cabot,  we  shall  see  at  a  glance 
what  wonderful  progress  geographical  science  had  made  in 
the  short  space  of  time  that  separates  1492  from  1544.  The 
general  outline  of  the  two  great  continents  no  longer  provokes 
a  smile.  Africa  and  India,  Cathay,  Japan,  America  as  far 
as  Magellan's  Strait,  are  known  :  but  as  soon  as  we  cast  our 
eyes  on  the  northern  part  of  our  hemisphere,  as  soon  as  we 
want  to  go  in  that  direction  beyond  the  53rd  degree  of  lat- 
itude, we  stop  in  astonishment.  How  explain  that  the  cosmog- 
raphy of  the  sixteenth  century  could  collect  such  exact  no- 
tions of  the  portions  of  the  globe  most  recently  discovered, 
while  still  reduced  to  tracing  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  the 
coasts  of  Norway,  on  the  faith  of  Ptolemy's  eight  books  and 
twenty-six  tables?  Because  beyond  the  53rd  degree  the  domain 
of  the  Hanseatic  League  commences.  The  port  of  Sluys  on 
the  coast  of  Flanders,  that  of  Antwerp  at  the^  mouth  of  the 
Scheldt,marked  throughout  the  middle  ages  the  extreme  limit 
which  the  merchant  squadron  of  Venice  bound  themselves 
never  to  cross.  Other  nations  at  times  ventured  to  infringe  on 

18 


274  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

the  zone  which  the  Hanse  towns  had  reserved  for  themselves  ; 
they  never  entered  it  without  a  combat,  and  it  was  in  vain  that 
the  Dutch  in  the  y  earl 43 7  hoisted  a  broom  at  their  mast-heads 
to  show  the  world  that  they  came  to  sweep  tyrants  from  the 
sea"* 

The  mention  here  made  of  the  Hanseatic  League  may  not 
be  sufficiently  clear  to  all  readers,  and  as  it  must  come  di- 
rectly into  our  narrative  further  on,  it  is  best  to  tell  here  briefly 
what  it  was  and  what  it  aimed  at.  About  1241,  the  cities  of 
Lubeck,  Bremen,  and  Hamburg  were  led  by  their  community 
of  interests  to  form  a  league  together  to  exclude  and  keep  a- 
way  from  their  sphere  of  commercial  action  all  those,  par- 
ticularly Danes  and  Norwegians,  who  wanted  to  thrust  them- 
selves into  it  and  divide  with  them  the  profits.  Many  others 
afterwards  joined  these  three  cities,  so  that  the  league  ac- 
quired such  strength  that  the  most  powerful  monarchs 
were  obliged  to  come  to  terms  with  them.  This  is  the  league 
that  was  called  Hanseatic  from  the  German  term,  Hanse,  As- 
sociation. All  the  territory  that  emptied  into  the  Baltic  was 
subjected  to  the  commercial  power  of  this  league  :  and  so,  not 
only  from  Germany,  but  from  the  most  inland  and  distant  re- 
gions of  Russia,  all  the  wares  and  the  products  of  either  agricult- 
ure or  manufacture  that  wanted  to  come  into  commerce  had 
to  apply  to  the  league.  Three  great  factories,  besides 
many  smaller,  at  Novgorod,  Bergen,  and  London,  collected 
for  it  from  the  most  distant  places  and  transported  from  one 
point  to  another  its  merchandize  and  exchanges,  and  in  this 
way  it  had  spread  over  all  the  northern  regions  like  a  net  into 
which  it  attracted  or  forced  every  thing  that  could  be  made 
an  article  of  commerce.  Whoever  wanted  to  sell  had  to  ap- 
ply to  it,  and  whoever  would  buy,  purchase  from  it.  With 
this  close  net  in  the  northern  parts  was  connected  the  Vene- 
tian net  for  other  parts  :  and  the  place  of  connection  was  first 
Bruges  and  afterwards  Antwerp.  The  caravan  of  ships  and 
merchants  which  sailed  from  Venice   in  the  beginning  of 

*  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  15  Jain  1876,  Les  Marins  au  xvi  Siecle,  par  M.  le 
Vice-Amiral  E.  Jurien  de  La  Gravis  re,  p.  767. 


THE  HANSEATIC  LEAGUE.  275 

Spring,  and  extended  to  all  the  lands  and  harbors  of  the 
Mediterranean,  the  Black  Sea,  the  Red  Sea,  and  the  shores  of 
the  Atlantic,  went  to  deposit  in  one  or  the  other  of  these  cities 
the  merchandise  and  exchanges  which  the  rest  of  the  world 
sent  to  the  regions  of  the  north,  and  found  there,  ready  to 
ship,  the  merchandise  and  exchanges  which  the  regions  of 
the  north  sent  to  their  brother  peoples.      But  as  the  Hanseatic 
League  took  care  not  to  infringe  on  the  seas  and  lands  reserved 
for  Venice,   Venice  with  equal  delicacy  and  scruple  avoided 
even  entering  within  the  domain  of  the  league.      This  agree- 
ment was  so  well  observed  on  both  sides  that  there  never  was 
any   cause  of  discord  or  complaint  between  them.   In  this 
way  all  means  of  acquiring  geographical  knowledge  of  the 
seas,  which  the  jealousy  of  the  Hanseatic  League  reserved  for 
itself  exclusively,  was  cut  off  ;   and  it  would  tell  nothing,  be- 
cause it  was  its  interest  to  keep  all  those  places  in  obscurity 
and  mystery.       It  is  therefore  no  wonder  that  in  the  middle 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  when  for  more  than  fifty  years  the  out- 
line of  Africa  had  been  known,  the  southern  part  of  Asia 
visited,  nearly  all  the  boundaries  of  the  New   Continent  ex- 
plored, and  for  many  years  the  whole  globe  had  been  gone  a- 
round  ;  it  was  not  yet  known  whether  Europe  was  bounded  at 
the  north  by  sea,  or  its  northern  lands  continuing  to  extend  be- 
yond the  Pole,  went  on  to  join  the  northern  lands  of  America. 
We  have  already  seen  that  just  in  the  middle  of  that  century, 
in  1550,  Ramusio  printed  these  words:  "Why  cannot  the  princes 
....  cause.  .  .  .  discovery  towards  the  north  where  the  land  of 
Labrador  is,  and  see  whether  it  joins  Norway  or  there  is  sea  be- 
tween ?"*  It  was  then  a  real  problem  which  Cabot  proposed  to  t 
study  and  solve.      We  know  not  when  he  first  turned  his  mind 
to  it,  but  it  was  certainly  in  the  early  part  of  his  residence 
in  Spain,    and    probably    immediately    after    America    was 
recognized  as  a  continent  and  that  beyond  it  was  an  im- 
mense ocean   before  reaching  Asia.     It  is   certain    that  on 
his  return  to  England  he  was  strong  for  giving  the  Eng- 
lish navigations  the  new  direction.! 

*  Ramusio,  Belle  Navigationi  et  Viaggi,  vol.  i,  p.  115. 

f  "  Si  aveva  messo  in  fantasia  Sebastiano  Caboto e  molti  anni  col 


276  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

In  the  second  volume  of  Ramusio,  edition  of  1606  b^ 
Giunti  at  Venice,  on  page  211,  there  is  a  description  of  a 
voyage  in  this  new  direction  under  the  title,  "navigazione  di 
Scbastiano  Cabote."  It  is  evidently  not  Ramusio's  work,  be- 
cause wanting  in  his  first  edition,  and  in  some  particulars  at 
variance  with  the  ideas  put  forth  by  him  in  other  places.* 
It  is  an  addition  inserted  in  the  second  edition  of  his  great 
collection,  when  he  had  been  sleeping  for  some  time  in  his 
peaceful  grave.  This  account  is  a  mere  log-book  of  the 
vessel  as  it  proceeded  on  its  course.  The  voyage  of  which  it 
speaks  is  there  said  to  have  taken  place  in  1556,  and  this  date 
is  of  itself  enough  to  exclude  all  possibility  of  its  having  be- 
longed to  Sebastian  Cabot,  for  he  was  then  close  on  to  85 
years  of  age,  and  a  man  of  that  age,  however  robust,  cannot 
set  out  on  a  long,  new  voyage,  full  of  unknown  difficulties 
and  dangers,  like  that  in  search  of  a  passage  through  the 
frozen  seas  of  the  extreme  north.  It  is  easy  to  recognize  that 
this  account  refers  to  one  of  the  many  attempts  which  the 
English  made  in  those  days  to  find  a  passage  by  the  north- 
east. The  collector  himself  says  as  much  in  his  preface  to  the 
account :  "Of  the  many  navigations  since  that  our  men  have  made 
in  Moscovy,  only  this  one  is  described  here.''!  Inquiring  to 
which  of  those  vo}^ages  the  description  might  relate,  it  is  found 
to  correspond  beyond  doubt  to  the  voyage  made  to  those  seas 
by  Stephen  Burrough,  who  was  one  of  the  most  expert  seamen 
that  England  could  boast  of  in  those  days,  and  who  held  the 
position  of  Grand  Pilot  in  that  country. 

But  the  mistake  of  the  anonymous  collector  tends  all  the 
more  to  the  glory  of  Sebastian  Cabot,  and  has  for  us  the  value 


pensiero  discorso  haveva,  poter  essere  che  qualche  passo  fosse  nel  mare  setten- 
trionale,  per  il  quale  o  di  verso  levante  o  di  verso  ponente  con  breve  navi- 
gatione  e  facile  da  queste  uostre  parti  nel  grande  Oceano  Indico  passare  si 
potesse  ..."  Ramusio,  Ediz.  1606,  vol.  ii,  p.  212.  V.  App.  li.  —  also  Eden 
"  who  (Sebastian  Caboto)  long  before  had  this  secret  in  is  minde.  Decad.  fol. 
256. 

*  Ramusio  always  calls  Sebastian  Cabot  a  Venetian.  This  other  anonymous 
writer  begins  his  narrative  thus  :  «'  Sebastian  Cabot,  an  Englishman." 

f  '  'De  molte  navigazioni  poi  che  i  nostri  hvomini  hanno  in  Moscoma  fattey 
questa  sola  in  questo  luogo  si  descrive.  '■ 


ENGLISH  VOYAGES  TO  THE  NORTH-EAST.  277 

of  an  historical  document,  for  in  this  error  he  is,  as  it  were,  the 
echo  of  the  general  opinion  then  entertained  in  relation 
to  these  new  voyages  which  the  English  were  making  to  the 
north-east  ;  namely,  that  they  were  all  the  fruit  of  Sebastian 
Cabot's  studies  and  activity  ;  and  the  intrepid  navigators 
who  advanced  amid  the  terrors  of  those  new  lands,  were  only 
carrying  out  the  work  conceived  and  calculated  by  him.  In- 
deed, Burrough  was  pilot  on  the  first  voyage  which  Sebastian 
Cabot  promoted  to  those  parts,  and  rising  afterwards  to 
the  honor  of  commanding  an  expedition  himself,  he  merely 
continued,  like  all  the  rest,  the  work  commenced  by  Cabot. 
Besides  this,  the  description  of  this  voyage  enters  directly,  as 
a  document,  into  the  story  of  Sebastian  Cabot  by  the  preface 
which  the  anonymous  collector  prefixes  to  it,  in  which 
he  hints  at  some  of  the  arguments  on  which  Cabot  based  the 
possibility  of  that  passage.  It  is  true  he  unites  the  under- 
takings of  father  and  son  in  a  single  one,  the  old  voyages  by 
the  west  and  the  new  by  the  east  ;  but  as  those  arguments 
have  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  the  western  voyages, 
and  the  anonymous  collector  himself  draws  the  conclusions 
from  them  only  in  regard  to  the  eastern  voyages,  we  must 
presume  that  they  are  intended  to  refer  to  the  latter  only,  and 
that  it  was  from  want  of  order  and  precision  that  John  Cabot 
and  the  western  voyages  were  also  related.  *  But  unfort- 
unately the  mention  is  so  miserably  brief  that  it  hardly 
amounts  to  any  thing,  whereas  both  the  man  who  imagined 
the  possibility  of  that  passage  and  studied  it  out,  and  the 
greatness  of  the  deed  in  relation  to  those  times  make  us  sup- 
pose a  long  and  varied  study  before  its  possibility  was  firmly 
rooted  in  Cabot's  mind.  The  anonymous  collector  himself 
hints  at  this  long  labor,  when  he  tells  us  that  Sebastian 
Cabot  had  discussed  that  subject  with  his  thoughts  for  many 
years.  But  then,  when  he  comes  to  specify  that  long  dis- 
cussion that  Sebastian  Cabot  had  made,  he  says  in  general 

*  "  These  are  the  principal  arguments,  trusting  in  which,  Sebastian  Cabot 
persuaded  the  men  of  these  countries  that  they  could  pass  by  the  northern  sea 
by  the  side  of  the  east."— See  App.  li. 


278  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

terms  "  he  was  induced  to  imagine  this  thing  partly  by 
the  testimony  of  some  ancient  authors,  and  partly  by 
the  experience  of  many  moderns,"  and  then  for  the  testi- 
mony of  the  ancients  he  mentions  two  facts,  one  in  the  days 
of  the  Romans  and  the  other  in  the  middle  ages  :  and  for  the 
experience  of  the  moderns  he  merely  gives  a  brief  hint  as  to 
what  was  known,  or  supposed  to  be  known,  of  the  conformation 
of  the  lands  and  seas  of  the  extreme  east. 

The  ancient  fact  is  taken  from  Pliny's  Natural  History 
where  it  is  related  on  the  authority  of  Cornelius  Nepos. 
Here  are  Pliny's  words  :  "The  same  Nepos,  concerning  a 
northern  circuit,  relates  that  Q.  Metellus  Celer,  colleague  of  L. 
Afranius  in  the  consulship,  but  at  this  time  proconsul  of 
Gaul,  received  as  a  present  from  the  King  of  the  Suevi  some  Ind- 
ians who,  while  sailing  from  India  for  purposes  of  commerce, 
had  been  driven  on  the  German  coast. "*  Pomponius  Mela 
likewise  refers  the  same  story  to  Cornelius  Nepos  :  "For 
some  time  it  was  doubtful  what  was  beyond  the  Caspian  Gulf : 
whether  it  was  an  ocean  or  a  land  intolerable  from  cold  and 
endlessly  extended.  But  besides  the  authority  of  physicists 
and  of  Homer  who  said  that  the  whole  earth  was  surrounded 
by  water,  we  have  Cornelius  Nepos  of  higher  authority 
because  more  recent,  who  gives  Metellus  Celer  as  a  proof  of 
the  fact,"  and  then  gives  the  same  account  as  Pliny. f  To 
understand  how  the  Romans  could  so  easily  credit  the  story 
of  this  shipwreck,  we  should  bear  in  mind  that  for  them  the 
Caspian  Sea  was  only  a  gulf  of  the  Northern  Ocean,  of  which 
the  Baltic  was  likewise  a  part,  so  that  from  the  Cimbric 
Chersonese  (  modern  Jutland  )  it  was,  according  to  them,  di- 
rectly navigable  to  the  northern  mouth  of  the  Caspian.^  That 

*  "Idem  Nepos  de  septeutrionali  circuital  tradit  Q.  Metello  Celeri,  L.  Afranii 
in  consulatu  collegae,  sed  turn  Galliae  proconsuli,  Indos  a  rege  Suevorum  dono 
datos,  qui  ex  India  commercii  causa  navigantes  tempestatibus  essent  in  Ger- 
rnaniam  abrepti."— Plin.  Hist.  Nat.  lib.  ii,  cap.  67. 

f  "  Ultra  Caspium  sinum  quidnam  esset,  ambiguum  aliquandiu  fuit;  idemne 
Oceanus  an  Tellus  infesta  frigoribus,  sine  ambitu  ac  sine  fine  projecta.  Sed 
praeter  physicos  Homerumque,  qui  uuiversum  orbem  mari  circumfusum  esse 
dixerunt,  Cornelius  Nepos,  ut  recentior,  ita  auctoritate  certior  ;  testem  auteni 
rei  Metellum  Celerem  .  .  . .  "    Pompon.  Mela,  De  Situ  Orbis,  iii,  5,  8. 

X  See  the  geographical  charts  according  to  the  system  of  Eratosthenes,  Hip- 


INDIANS  WRECKED  ON  THE  GERMAN  COAST.  279 

from  the  Caspian  it  was  possible  to  sail  uninterruptedly  to  the 
Indies,  was  regarded  as  certain  on  Strabo's  authority.  "The 
mouth  of  the  Caspian  or  Hircanian  sea  is  much  farther  north: 
it  is  about  six  thousand  stadia  distant  from  the  middle  of  the 
Caspian  and  from  the  Armenian  and  Median  mountains,  and 
seems  to  be  the  most  northern  point  of  the  whole  coast  and  pos- 
sible to  sail  around  as  far  as  India,  as  Patrocles,  the  governor 
of  these  places,  says."  *  And  in  another  place  he  says  : 
"They  do  not  admit  that  it  is  possible  that  some  sailed  around 
from  India  to  the  Hyrcanian,  but  Patrocles  found  it  so.  f 

As  to  Cornelius  Nepos's  account,  there  being  no  reason  for 
denying  the  shipwreck  of  strangers  on  the  German  coast,  it 
has  been  asked  what  people  these  supposed  Indians  belonged 
to.  Some  have  thought  they  were  Esquimaux  from  Labra- 
dor or  Greenland,  driven  on  our  shores  by  north-west  gales."  J 

During  the  middle  ages  geography  made  no  progress  in  the 
knowledge  of  these  regions.  And  as  the  Arab  writers  of  the 
tenth  century  had  told  of  a  ship  sailing  from  Siraph  harbor 
in  the  Persian  Gulf,  carried  by  the  force  of  the  currents  into  the 
Caspian  Sea,  whence  passing  through  a  channel  it  reached 

parchus,  and  Strabo,  annexed  to  the  French  translation  of  Strabo,  Paris,  Im- 
primerie  Imperiale,  1805. 

*  (( . . .  ?E6rai  8  s rd  rov  drojuaroS  rrjS  KaditiaS  Qa\dddr}$  site  'Tpn- 

av/ai  TtdfxitoXv  ri  dpHrixdorEpa  •  oitEp  rov  vvxcv  rr/S  Ka6nia%  nai  tgdv 
'Ap/usviaHGov  nal  MrjdiKoov  dpcSv  Siexsi  Kepi  s^aKidxihiovS  drad/ovt, 
nai  Sohei  rrjS  dvrr1%  itapaXiaS  jusxpi  TV'=  'IvSixrfi  dpHtiHoorspov  eivcu 
dtjueloVy  nal  7tEp/7tXovv  exeiv  'ccxo  rfjS  'Iv8ixr)S  Svvarov,  a°5  (prjdiv  6  rcSv 
Toitaov  r//  >/  docfXEVoS  tovtgov  liar poKkr)% .»  Strab.  Geogr.  lib.  ii,  p.  74,  sub 
finem. 

+  "Ovx  buoXoyoVdi  8k  on  itEoiEit\EVdav  nvz$*aitt  rf ?  'lv8iKrj$  titl  tr,v 
'TpKaviav,  on  Ss  Svvarov,  IlarpoKkrft  EiprjKE— Id.  ib.  lib.  xi,  p.  518,  sub 

finern. 

%"  Siya  no  fuesen  de  Tierra  del  Labrador,  y  los  tuviesen  por  Indianos, 
engafiados  en  el  color."— Goraara,  Historia  delas  lndias.fol.  7.  -  And  Corne- 
lius WytflVt,  in  his  additions  to  Ptolemy's  Geography  published  in  1597  :  — 
"  Iudos  quondam  lempestatibus  in  Suevorum  et  Germanise  litora  eiectos  et  L. 
Metello  Celeri  dono  datos,  non  ex  ultimis  (Mentis  et  Occidentis  partibus,  uti 
quibusdam  visum  est,  sed  ex  hac  Laboratoris  et  Estotilandioe  aut  vicinis  ter- 
ris  venisse  constanter  teneo,  mecumque  sentiet  quicumque  climatis  rationem 
expenderit."  Others  instead  have  held  that  they  were  merely  Wends,  a  Slav- 
onian people  dwelling  on  the  southern  shores  of  the  Baltic—  See  Vivien  de 
St.  Martin,  Histoire  de  la  Geographic,  2?.  176. 


280  THE  LIFE  OP  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

the  coast  of  Syria  ;  *  so  amongst  our  own  writers  iEneas  Syl- 
vius Piccolomini,  in  the  same  century  in  which  America  was 
discovered,  and  the  most  southerly  point  of  Africa  was  passed, 
relates  from  Otto  of  Freisingen  that,  "an  Indian  ship  with 
Indian  merchants  was  taken  on  the  coast  of  Germany  which 
evidently  had  been  driven  there  from  the  east ;  which  could 
not  possibly  have  happened  if,  as  many  suppose,  the  north- 
ern sea  was  frozen  and  unnavigable.  f  The  fact  reported  by 
Piccolomini  is  the  second  given  by  the  anonymous  Collector, 
and  almost  literally  translated. 

After  'all  this,  it  cannot  be  wondered  at  that  Sebastian 
Cabot,  who  had  sailed  over  and  visited  so  many  seas  and 
lands,  should  also  accept  these  stories  of  vessels  from  the  east- 
ern seas  of  Asia  driven  by  storms  into  our  northern  seas. 

But  to  these  arguments  deduced  from  the  testimony  of 
writers,  he  added  others  drawn  from  his  own  profound  knowl- 
edge of  every  science  that  has  any  affinity  to  the  nautical. 
Here  one  should  be  glad  to  know  the  basis  01  his  study  and 
reasoning  :  but  our  desires  are  even  less  gratified  than  in  the 
historical  arguments.  For  in  the  latter,  treating  of  a  matter  of 
fact,  a  mere  allusion  is  sufficient  to  direct  us  in  imagining 
very  nearly  the  process  that  Sebastian  Cabot's  mind  must  have 
gone  through  in  its  work  ;  but  in  the  reasoning  based  on  his 
extensive  and  profound  learning  in  nautical,  geographical, 
and  cosmographical  studies,  we  are  forced  to  stop  at  the  simple 
mention  of  it  made  by  Ramusio's  new  anonymous.  The 
reasoning  reported  is  entirely  based  on  error,  but  the  blame  of 
that  belongs  to  the  age,  not  the  man.  Here  is  the  little  that 
the  anonymous  writer  gives  us  :  "The  other  argument  was 
that  beyond  the  Indian  Sea,  the  Gulf  of  the  Ganges,  the 
Golden  Chersonese  or  Malacca,  and  the  Province  of  Sina,  J  and 


*  Humboldt,  Recherche*  Critiques  i,  p.  480. 

fNosapud  Othonem  leginms  sub  Imperatoribus  Theutonicis  Indicam  navim 
et  negociatores  Indicos  in  germanico  litore  fuisse  deprehensos,  quos  ventis  a- 
gitatos  ingratie  ab  orientali  plaga  venisse  constabat  ;  quod  accidere  minime 
potuisset,  si,  ut  plerisque  visum  est,  septentrionale  pelagus  innavigabile  con- 
cretumque  esset."-— .4smb  Europmque  Descriptio.  Be  Mundo  in  universe-,  cap.  ii. 

X  Southern  China,  mentioned  by  Ptolemy  under  the  name  of  Sin*. 


cabot's  knowledge  of  the  north.  281 

beyond  the  navigation  of  moderns,*  he  knew  for  certain  that 
this  Indian  Sea  was  situated  in  length  (longitude)  nearly  in 
180°  f  and  in  breadth  (latitude)  in  the  25th  degree,  a  little 
beyond  the  meridian  of  Tartary,  and  the  extensive  empire  of 
Cathay  (that  which  is  sought  after  by  navigators  as  the  end  and 
reward  of  their  labors) ;  and  considering  how  and  how  much 
this  great  sea  of  the  Indies  was  constantly  expanding  under 
that  meridian  and  bending  northwards,  not  lightly  or  without 

reason he  judged 'it  likely  that  if  our  northern  sea  extended 

on  the  east  or  west  towards  the  south  ...  it  would  not  be  a 
long  navigation  from  70°,or  60°  latitude  to  30°  in  which  they 
place  Cathay,  an  incredible  distance  from  Moscovy.  . .  .Trust- 
ing in  which  arguments,  he  persuaded  the  men  of  these  coun- 
tries that  they  could  pass  by  the  northern  sea  by  the  side  of 
the  East  ....  easily  and  in  a  certain  time  to  East  India, 
or  at  least  reach  the  Kingdom  of  Cathay.";): 

Vice-admiral  Jurien  de  la  Graviere  in  the  article  mentioned 
further  back  has  made  an  observation  which  should  be  here 
copied,  for  it  may  throw  not  a  little  light  on  our  present  subject. 
Not  a  mere  man  of  the  sea,  he  was  one  of  the  most  learned  of 
this  century  in  geographical  science,  and  therefore  his  words 
should  have  great  weight. 

Speaking  of  the  navigation  of  the  North  and  Baltic  seas  in 
the  time  of  Sebastian  Cabot,  he  writes  :  "The  Germans,  Danes, 
Flemings,  the  fishermen  from  the  north  of  Scotland,  are  the 
only  sailors  who  have  yet  visited  those  shores.  Sebastian 
Cabot  would  have  gained  little  by  consulting  them.  These 
people  have  not  ceased  to  deserve  the  comtemptuous  remark 
of  Prince  Henry  :  '  they  know  nothing  of  the  use  of  marine 
charts  or  the  compass.'  One  bright  point,  however, 
never  ceased  to  shine  through  the  thickness  of  the  ancient 
darkness.  Where  you  would  go  to-day  to  look  for  Hammer- 
fest,  Cape  North,  Varanger  Fiord,  you  will  see  marked  on  the 
planisphere  of  1544  at  the  bottom  of  a  large  gulf  the  Danish 

*  The  Spanish  and  Portuguese,  who  in  the  first  half  of  the  XVI  Century  vis- 
ited the  great  archipelago  of  the  East  Indies, 
t  From  the  meridian  of  Ferro. 
X  See  App.  1. 


282  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

fortress  of  Varduus.  *  Neither  Martin  Behaim,  extending  his 
savage  Laponia  to  the  North  Pole,  nor  John  de  la  Cosa,  nor  the 
unknown  cosmographer  of  Henry  II,  mentioned  this  extreme 
station,  f  Sebastian  Cabot  points  it  out  to  the  navigator  as 
the  bourn  to  double  in  order  to  enter  the  Sea  of  Tartary,  and 
wonderful  to  say,  wants  very  little  of  putting  it  in  its  right 

place w  %  The  northern  coast  of  Finmark  which  extends 

a  great  distance  on  the  same  parallel,  has  really  the  right  to 
occupy  the  70th  degree  of  latitude  as  Sebastian  Cabot  un- 
derstands. It  is  there  that  Europe  ends,  and  for  a  serious 
cosmographer  it  is  there  also  that  the  world  should  terminate^ 
This  almost  exactness  on  a  point  so  distant  that  it  is  only 
found  on  Sebastian  Cabot's  chart,  attests,  in  my  opinion,  the 
patient  investigation  he  kept  making,  so  far  as  possible  with 
the  uncertain  information  current  among  northern  mariners, 
on  the  condition  and  situation  of  places  in  those  distant  re- 
gions. These  long  and  patient  investigations  are  in  perfect 
keeping  with  the  study  he  was  for  years  maturing  on  the  pos- 
sibility of  navigating  and  crossing  those  seas. 


*  Vardoehuus,  on  the  Island  of  Vardofi,  in  the  Diocese  of  Tromso6,a  city  of 
200  inhabitants,  situated  in  70°  22'  N.  L.  and  28°  47'  E.  Longitude. 

t  The  famous  chart  known  under  the  name  of  Henry  II,  and  which  would 
seem  to  have  been  composed  between  August  1541  and  June  1544,  and  conse- 
quently the  last  iu  the  series  prior  to  the  planisphere  composed  by  Sebastian 
Cabot  — See  Harrisse,  Jean  et  Sebastien  Cabot,  p.  210  and  s. 

%  "70°  38'  N.  L.  instead  of  70°  22.'— 40°  of  longitude  east  from  the  meridian 
of  Paris  instead  of  28°  47'." 

§"Les  Allemauds,  les  Danois,  les  Flamands,les  pgcheurs  du  Nord  de  l'Ecosse, 
sont  les  senls  marins  qui  aieut  encore  frequente  ces  parages.  S6bastien  Cabot 
gagnerait  peu  a  les  consulter.  Ces  gens-la  n'ont  pas  cesse  de  meriter  la  dedaig- 
neuse  exclamation  du  prince  Henri:  *ils  n'entendentrien  al'emploides  cartes 
marines  et  de  la  boussole.'  Un  point  lumineux  ne  laisse  pas  cependant  de  briller 
a  travers  l'epaisseur  des  antiques  tenebres.  La  ou  vous  iriez  aujourd'  hni  cher- 
cher  Hammerfest,  le  cap  Nord,  le  fiord  de  Varanger,  vous  verrez  indiquee  sur 
le  planisphere  de  1544,  au  fond  d'  un  large  golfe,  la  forteresse  danoise  de  'Var- 
duus!' Ni  Martin  Behaim  £tendant  jusq'au  pole  sa  Laponie  sauvage,  ni 
Juan  de  la  Cosa,  ni  le  cosmographe  inconnu  d'Henri  II,  n'ont  fait  mention  de 
cette  station  extreme.  Sebastien  Cabot  la  montre  au  navigateur  comme  la 
borne  a  doubler  pour  entrer  dans  la  mer  de  Tartarie,  et,  chose  merveilleuse,  il 
s'en  faut  de  bien  peu  qu'il  ne  l'ait  mise  a  sa  place.  " 


THE  HANSEATIC  LEAGUE  IN  ENGLAND.  283 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Expedition  to  the  North-East 

In  the  preceding  chapter  we  had  to  stop  to  speak  of  the 
Hanseatic  League,  on  account  of  the  obstacle  it  was  to  the  ex- 
tension of  geographical  knowledge  of  the  northern  portion  of 
our  hemisphere  ;  now  we  return  to  it  to  tell  its  relations 
with  England,  for  it  is  from  that  country  that  the  work  for- 
warded by  Sebastian  Cabot  sets  out.  The  Hanseatic  League 
established  itself  in  London  in  the  year  1256,  and  the  com- 
pany which  was  formed  there  of  German  merchants  took  the 
name  of  Steelyard.  Its  coming  seemed  at  first  a  blessing  to  the 
commerce  of  England,  which  was  languishing  in  the  most 
squalid  misery,  and  to  encourage  those  merchants  in  their 
action  Government  was  never  tired  of  conferring  privileges  on 
their  association.  The  activity  and  energy  of  the  merchants 
answered  these  hopes  only  too  well.  For,  aided  by  the  many 
privileges  they  had  acquired,  and  many  more  which  they  were 
able  to  appropriate  to  themselves  by  custom  and  the  acquies- 
cence of  the  government  and  people,  supported  by  their  im- 
mense wealth,  their  connections,  the  warehouses  which  they 
had  opened  in  the  most  populous  centres  of  England,  and  by 
their  correspondence  with  the  most  commercial  marts  of  Eu- 
rope ;  they  had  reached  such  point  that  they  not  only  drew  to 
themselves  the  entire  commerce  of  England,  but  they  per- 
mitted no  exports  or  imports  through  any  other  hands  than 
their  own,  defrauding  individuals  and  the  government  to  an 
enormous  extent,  for  they  fixed  the  bulletin  of  prices  of  every 
thing  bought  by  the  English,  and  compelled  all  foreign 
goods  coming  into  England  and  which  should  have  paid  a 
good  toll  to  the  government,  to  pass  under  their  flag,  which 
either  exempted  them  from  all  customs  or  reduced  the  duties  to 


284  THE  LIFE  OP  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

an  insignificant  rate.  *  As  a  proof  of  the  enormous  prepon- 
derance acquired  by  the  German  company  in  English  com- 
merce, I  will  only  give  this,  that  in  the  year  1551,  it  of  itself 
alone  exported  from  England  44,000  pieces  of  cloth,  and  all 
the  English  merchants  together  only  sent  out  1,100.  f 

Seeing  the  great  injury  it  did  the  country  in  every  respect, 
Edward  III  and  Richard  II  made  great  efforts  to  stimulate 
their  subjects  to  navigation.  But  all  their  efforts  were  idle. 
The  Steelyard  Company  by  craft  or  arrogance,  as  suited  the 
case,  gained  the  favor  of  Henry  VI  and  imposed  its  will 
on  Edward  IV.  Henry  VII  was  often  compelled  to  oppose  it, 
and  he  notified  the  Diet  at  Antwerp  in  1491,  through  his  rep- 
resentatives that  thenceforth  the  German  merchants  would 
be  treated  in  England  on  the  same  footing  as  the  English 
merchants  in  the  Hanseatic  cities.  But  this  amounted  to  noth- 
ing, for  English  manufactures  and  commerce  were  in  no  posi- 
tion to  do  without  the  Hanse  towns.  And  so  England  con- 
tinued for  sixty  years  longer  to  bear  the  yoke  imposed 
on  her  by  foreign  commerce.  The  credit  of  breaking  that 
yoke  and  placing  England  on  the  road  that  brought  her  to 
the  rank  of  the  richest  nation  in  the  world  and  the  Queen  of  the 
Seas,  belongs  to  Sebastian  Cabot.  On  his  return  to  England 
he  made  himself  the  centre  of  the  national  merchants,  restored 
their  drooping  courage,  and  raised  their  hopes  of  the  future. 
His  reputation  and  authority  gave  special  force  to  his  words, 
so  that,  clinging  close  to  him,  and  guided  by  his  suggestions 
and  advice,  the  English  merchants  presented  to  the  Privy  Coun- 
cil of  King  Edward  an  appeal  against  the  intolerable  abuses 
and  frauds  of  the  Steelyard  Company.  This  company  at  once 
appreciated  the  danger  that  threatened  them;  and  with  alarm 
and  energy  equal  to  the  danger,  they  rose  to  oppose  it.    They 

*  Hakluyt,  vol.  i,  p.  144  and  s.  — Anderson's  History  of  Commerce,  vol.  ii, 
p.  90.  — Mc  Pherson's  Annals  of  Commerce,  vol.  ii,  p.  109.—  "There  is  a  law 
of  this  reign,"  says  Hume  (12  Henry  VII  ),"containiug  a  preamble  by  which  it. 
appears  that  the  company  of  merchant  adventurers  in  London,  had,  by  their 
own  authority,  debarred  all  the  other  merchants  of  the  Kingdom,  from  trading 
to  the  great  Marts  in  the  Low  countries,  unless  each  trader  previously  paid 
them  the  sum  of  near  seventy  pounds."  History  of  England,  ch.  xxvi. 
f  Jurien  de  la  Graviere  in  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  15  Juin,  1876,  p.  764. 


THE  IIAXSEATIC  LEAGUE  IN  ENGLAND.  285 

not  only  put  in  motion  all  the  influence  of  their  money,  their 
connections,  and  adherents,  but  caused  the  cities  of  Hamburg 
and  Lubeck  to  interfere  officially. 

But  the  government  sustained  the  protest  of  the  merchants 
of  the  nation,  and  restrained  the  Steelyard  within  the  privi- 
leges it  had  actually  obtained.*  This  was  a  deadly  blow  to 
the  company  ;  for  a  company  of  national  merchants  was  at 
once  formed  around  Cabot,  and  guided  by  his  good  sense, 
and  incited  by  his  energy,  was  the  origin  and  beginning  of 
that  marvellous  activity  and  diligence  in  commerce  and 
navigation  which  the  English  have  since  displayed  through- 
out the  world. 

Strype  records  a  present  of  £200  to  Sebastian  Cabot  from 
King  Edward  in  the  month  of  March  of  this  year.f  Biddle, 
reasoning  from  the  circumstances  of  the  time,  concluded  that 
this  present  was  in  token  of  the  royal  satisfaction  at  the  part 
he  had  taken  in  organizing  the  company  of  national 
merchants.  But  as  the  book  of  that  King's  privy  expenses 
mentions  another  present,  also  of  £200,  the  year  before, 
which  we  related  further  back,  a  doubt  remains  that  Strype 
may  have  mistaken  the  year  of  the  present. 

As  soon  as  the  company  was  formed,  Cabot  and  the  mer- 
chants began  holding  many  and  frequent  meetings  to  con- 
sult on  their  action  ;  \  and  then  it  was  that  he  disclosed  the 
secret  which  according  to  the  anonymous  of  Ramusio's  second 
edition,  he  had  jealously  guarded  even  when  he  was  in 
Spain,  and  which  Eden  affirms  he  had  long  thought  and 
studied  over.  §     This  was,  as  we  have  already  said,  the  proj- 

*  The  reply  to  the  Steelyard  was  dated  March  25,  1551.  In  the  diary  of 
the  young  King  Edward  published  by  Burnet  in  his  History  of  the  Reformation, 
vol.  ii,  the  progress  of  the  dispute  with  the  Steelyard  is  found  registered 
from  day  to  day.  "  25  March,  1551.  The  Answer  for  the  Ambassador  of  the 
Stiliard  was  committed  to  the  Lord  Chancellor,  &c." 

f  "To  Sebastian  Caboto,  the  great  seaman,  200  pounts,  by  way  of  the  King's 
majesty's  reward,  dated  in  March,  1551."— Strype's  Historical  Memorials,  vol. 
ii,  p.  495. 

X  ".  .  .  .  they  (the  merchants)  began  first  of  all  to  deal  and  consult  diligently 
with  him  (Caboto)." 
t   Hakluyt,  i.  p.  270.  Voyage  of  Richard  Chancellor. 

§"and  whereas  I  have  before  made  mention  ho  we  Moscovie  was  in  our  time 


286  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

ect  of  opening  a  passage  to  Asia  by  the  north-east  of 
Europe.  But  this  secret  must  be  understood  of  the  project 
of  that  navigation  as  studied  out  and  calculated  with  all  the  aid 
that  study  and  science  can  give  to  a  man  of  genius  and 
experience  like  Cabot  ;  for  as  to  the  simple  idea  of  the 
possibility  of  sailing  to  the  north-east  to  reach  Asia,  we 
have  seen  that  in  the  days  of  the  Romans  and  the  Greeks,  and 
in  those  very  years  when  Cabot  was  studying  this  prob- 
lem scientifically,  others  in  various  places  were  turning 
their  mind  to  it  by  way  of  induction,  foretelling  that  some  one 
would  attempt  that  passage.  One  of  these  was  Ramusio's 
Anonymous  who  had  the  long  conversation  with  Sebastian 
Cabot  in  Spain,  to  which  our  story  has  had  frequent  oc- 
casion to  refer.  In  the  same  discourse  at  Fracastoro's  Villa, 
where  he  relates  this  conversation,  he  gives  another  in 
which  the  thought  of  this  navigation  is  clearly  hinted  at.  * 
And  further  on,  referring  to  some  plans  that  had  been 
laid  for  attracting  the  trade  of  Cathay  to  Russia,  but  which 
had  fallen  through,  he  goes  on  to  say  :  "  that  if  it  had 
been  proposed  to  sail  from  the  shores  of  this  our  northern  sea 
right  along  the  coast  to  Cathay  the  plan  might  easily 
have  been  carried  out.  And  ....  that  as  to  the  said  seas,  it 
cannot  be  doubted  that  they  are  navigable  for  six  months  of 
the  year,  the  days  being  very  long  and  warm,  owing  to 
the  continual  reverberation  of  the  solar  rays."  And  much 
more  directly,  in  fact  absolutely  proposing  it,  Robert  Thorne 
speaks  of  it  in  a  letter  which  he  wrote  in  1527  to  Henry  VIII 


discovered  by  Richard  Chanceler  in  his  voyage  toward  Cathay,  by  the  di- 
rection and  information  of  M.  Sebastian  Cabota,  who  long  before  had  this  secret 
inhisminde." — Eden's  Decad.  fol.  256. —  And  the  second  Anonim  ous  of  Ra- 

musio: — "Sebastiano  Cabota il  quale.  .  .  .(come  esso  dir  soleva)  sin  quaudo 

in  Spagna  habitava  haveva  nella  mente  tenuto  per  marinari  questo  secreto  oc- 
culto  .  .  .  ." —  Ramusio,  II.  Ediz.  Venezia,  1606,  vol.  ii,  p.  212. 

*  Here  are  his  words  :  "In  my  young  days  finding  myself  in  Germany  in  the 
City  of  Augsburg,  there  came  there  an  ambassador  from  the  Duke  of  Moscovy 
....speaking  with  him  one  day  of  these  Indianscast  by  fortune  on  the  shores  of 
Germany,  and  of  the  voyage  that  might  be  made  to  discover  by  the  northern  seas 
the  lands  of  Spices,  I  observed  that  he  was  much  surprised  at  first  as  at  some- 
thing which  he  never  could  have  dreamt  of,  but  after  reflecting,  it  fell  into  his 
fancy  and  greatly  pleased  him."  Ramusio,  vol.  i,  p.  412. 


CABOT  PROPOSES  THE  NORTH-EAST  PASSAGE.  287 

of  England,  to  urge  the  searching  for  a  northern  passage 
to  the  east  of  Asia,  for  which  undertaking  he  proposed,  as 
we  have  seen,  one  of  these  three  ways  :  by  the  north-west,  or 
directly  across  the  pole,  or  by  the  north-east.  Of  the  last  he 
wrote  :  "If  they  will  go  toward  the  Orient,  they  shall  enjoy  the 
regions  of  all  the  Tartarians,  that  extend  toward  the  mid- 
day, and  from  thence  they  may  go  and  proceed  to  the  land  of 
the  Chinas,  and  from  thence  to  the  land  of  Cathaio  Orientall, 
which  is  of  all  the  maine  land  most  oriental  that  can  be  reck- 
oned from  our  habitation.  And  if  from  thence  they  doe  con- 
tinue their  navigation,  following  the  coasts  that  returne  tow- 
ard the  Occident,  they  shall  fall  in  with  Malaca,  and  so  with 
all  the  Indies  which  we  call  Orientall,  and  following  the  way, 
may  returne  hither  by  the  Cape  of  Buona  Speranza,  and 
thus  they  shall  compasse  the  whole  worlde."* 

But  their  suppositions  and  proposals  were  built  in  the  air, 
whereas  the  project  of  Sebastian  Cabot  was  accompanied  by 
all  the  necessary  demonstrations  to  show  that  it  could  be 
carried  out  ;  and  herein  we  must  believe  consisted  the  secret 
he  had  nursed  as  far  back  as  when  he  was  in  Spain. 

The  English  merchants  were  exceedingly  pleased  with 
Cabot's  plan,  both  because  it  greatly  shortened  the  voyage  to 
the  treasures  of  the  extreme  east,  from  the  very  long  distances 
sailed  by  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese,  and  because  the 
position  of  the  new  way  secured  almost  the  entire  benefit  to 
England.  Approving,  therefore,  his  studies  and  calculations, 
they  agreed  to  send  to  sea  three  ships  to  carry  out  his  plan,  f 
A  public  subscription  was  opened,  and  although  the  shares 
were  only  put  at  twenty-five  pounds  sterling,  the  necessary 
amount  was  subscribed  for  in  a  very  short  time.;);     Every 

*  Hakluyt  i,  p.  237. 

t  " after  much  speech  and  conference  together,  it  was  at  last  con- 
cluded that  three  shippes  should  bee  prepared  and  furnished  out,  for  the  search 
and  discoverie  of  the  Northern  part  of  the  world  to  open  a  way  and  passage 
to  our  men  for  travaile  to  new  and  unknown  kingdomes."  Hakluyt.  i,  270. 
Narrative  of  Richard  Chancellor. 

%  "by  this  companie  it  was  thought  expedient,  that  a  certaine  summe  of 
money  should  publiquely  bee  collected  to  ser »•  or  the  furnishing  of  so  many 
shippes.    And  lest  any  private  man  should  bee  £)0  much  oppressed  and 


288  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

shareholder  was  a  member  of  the  new  company,  which  took 
the  name  of  Merchant  Adventurers  of  England  for  the  Dis- 
covery of  Regions,  Dominions,  Islands,  and  places  unknown  ; 
but  it  was  commonly  known  by  the  shorter  form  of  The  Com- 
pany of  Merchants  of  Cathay  and  Russia.*  We  have 
already  said  that  Russia  in  those  days  had  little  more  relations 
with  the  rest  of  Europe  than  with  far-away  Cathay,  and  the 
little  she  sent  us  of  her  products,  or  received  of  ours,  was 
wholly  in  the  gripe  of  the  Hanseatic  League.  The  share- 
holders elected  for  directors  of  the  company  a  board  composed 
of "  grave  and  prudent  persuns,  "  and  this  board  appointed 
Sebastian  Cabot  governor  of  the  company.! 

In  fitting  out  this  expedition  the  precaution  was  taken  for 
the  first  time  in  England  to  cover  the  ships'  bottoms  with  a 
thin  leaf  of  lead,  to  protect  them  from  the  worms  which  often 
bored  through  the  hardest  oak.+  It  was  a  precaution  the  Span- 
iards had  used  for  some  time,  and  Biddle,  observing  that  they 
first  put  it  in  practice  in  1514,  two  years  after  Sebastian  Cabot 
went  over  to  King  Ferdinand's  service,  and  considering  his 
rapid  progress  in  his  career,  is  inclined  to  believe  it  was  first 
proposed  by  him.§ 

But  Cabot  was  not  exempt  from  annoyance  and  opposition 
even  among  the  English.  It  would  indeed  have  been  strange 
if  ignorance  and  malice  could  see  a  new  fact  of  great  import- 
ance in  preparation  and  keep  silent  and  not  attempt  in  some 
way  to  attack  and  bite  it.  Cabot  himself,  in  §32  of  his  in- 
structions for  this  voyage,  which  we  shall  see  further  on,  alludes 

to  the  difficulties  he  encountered  from "suspicion  in  some 

heads  that  this  voyage  could  not  succede  for  the  extremitie  of 
the  North  pole,  lacke  of  passage,  and  such  like,  which  have 

charged,  a  course  was  taken,  that  every  man  willing  to  be  of  the  societie, 
should  disburse  the  portion  of  twentie  and  five  pounds  apiece  ;  so  that  in  a 
short  time  by  this  meanes  the  summe  of  sixe  thousand  pounds  being  gathered, 
the  three  shippes  were  bought."  Hakluyt,  ib.  ib. 

*  "Chiamasi  la  lor  compagnia  la  compagnia  dei  Mercanti  del  Cathais, 
over  della  Russia."  Ramusio,  Preface  already  cited. 

t" Sebastian  Cabot ....  governor  of  the  Marcantes  of  Cathay  "  .  .  .  .  Eden, 
fol.  249. 

X  Hakluyt  i,  270.  §  Memoir  i,  p.  188. 


VARIATION  OF  THE  MAGNETIC  NEEDLE.  289 

caused  wavering  minds,  and  doubtful  heads,  not  only  to  with- 
draw themselves  from  the  adventure  of  this  voyage,  but  also 
diss  waded  others  from  the  same.  .  .  ."*  It  is  probably  at  the 
time  when  he  was  getting  this  expedition  ready  that  the  con- 
versation occurred  in  which  Sebastian  Cabot  explained  to  King 
Edward  the  declination  of  the  magnetic  needle;  from  which  he 
was  given  the  glory  of  being  the  first  to  observe  that  strange 
phenomenon.  The  matter  is  related  by  Livy  Sanudo,in  the 
First  Book  of  his  Geography,  published  in  1588, in  these  words: 
"  I  had  been  for  many  years  a  friend  of  a  gentleman  named 
Guido  Gianneti  di  Fano,  a  man  worthy  of  esteem  and  affec- 
tion for  his  erudition  and  virtuous  habits,  and  from  him  I 
first  heard  with  wonder  that  the  needle  of  the  compass  for 
navigation  rubbed  with  a  loadstone  does  not  always  indicate 
the  meridian  of  the  observer,  but  a  place  some  degrees  dis- 
tant from  that  meridian  ;  which  place  however  distant  is  still 
shown  by  the  needle,  now  at  that  meridian,  and  now  a  little, 
and  again  a  good  deal  away  from  it :  and  that  Sebastian 
Cabot,  a  Venetian,  a  most  excellent  Pilot  taught  by  experience 
and  by  the  observations  which  he  had  made  when  sailing  to  the 
Indies,  was  the  discoverer  of  this  secret  :  which  he  afterwards 
disclosed  to  the  ^sora  serene  King  of  England,  with  whom  Gi- 
anneti (  as  I  have  heard  from  others  ),  was  present  and 
greatly  honored  :  and  he  showed  at  the  same  time  what 
this  distance  was,  and  that  it  did  not  appear  the  same  at  every 
place."  f  But  the  fact  is,  that  before  Cabot,  Christopher  Co- 
lumbus had  observed  this  phenomenon,  on  the  13th  of  Sep- 
tember 1492,  as  he  wrote  in  his  journal  of  his  first  voyage  of 
discovery:  J  and  again  he  speaks  of  it  in  the  narrative  of  his 
third  voyage  as  a  phenomenon  observed  on  his  previous  voy- 
ages. Consequently  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  pri- 
ority of  his  observation,  and  they  are  in  error  who  gave  the 
credit  to  Sebastian  Cabot.     But  though  he  observed  the  phe- 


*  V.  App.  lviii. 

t  Oeografia  di  M.   Livio  Sanudo,  in  Vinegia,  appresso  Damiano  Zenaro. 
MDLXXXVIII,  p.  2. 

X  See  also,  Fernando  Colombo,  cap.  xii— lxiii. —  Herrera,  Dec.  i,  lib.  i,  cap. 
10— Tarducci,  Life  of  Columbus,  i,  p.  131. 

19 


290  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

nomenon  subsequently  to  Christopher  Columbus,  he  had  a 
much  larger  field  for  observation  and  study,  especially  as  he 
could  behold  it  in  the  two  opposite  climes  of  the  north  and  the 
south.  Whatever  explanation  of  it  Cabot  gave  to  King  Ed- 
ward, for  Gianneti,  who  had  never  heard  of  the  phenomenon, 
it  was  a  great  wonder,  and  as  he  was  ignorant  of  the  pre- 
vious observation  by  Christopher  Columbus,  he  looked  on  it 
as  something  altogether  new. 

Did  Cabot  know  the  fact  about  Christopher  Columbus  ? 
It  seems  very  hard  to  believe  he  was  unaware  of  it,  considering 
that  Columbus  was  not  the  only  one  to  remark  that  new  and 
strange  phenomenon,  but  his  companions  saw  it  likewise  and 
were  extremely  terrified  at  it  ;  which  occasioned  his  wonderful 
promptness  in  finding  a  consistent  theory  to  explain  it  and 
calm  their  minds.*  If  the  fact  was  remembered  in  the  Spanish 
marine,  no  one  would  be  more  likely  to  know  it  than  Cabot, 
as  Pilot-Major,  and  also  as  Instructor  of  cosmography  in  the 
Casa  de  Contratacion  at  Seville.  How  could  Cabot  represent 
himself  as  the  first  observer  of  this  phenomenon,  I  say  not,  to 
Edward  VI  King  of  England  far  from  the  place  and  time  of 
its  discovery,  but  to  the  Venetian  ambassador  Contarini,  with 
whom  he  was  making  an  agreement  to  sail  for  the  account  of 
Venice  ?f  Contarini  not  only  resided  in  Spain,  and  therefore 
in  a  position  to  know  of  Christopher  Columbus's  discovery,  and 
consequently  to  contradict  Cabot  on  the  spot  in  his  pretentious 
boast  ;  but  he  was  a  man  to  take  more  interest  than  any  one 
else  in  such  phenomenon,  if  the  historian  Peter  Martyr  D' 
Anghiera  applied  to  him  for  advice  and  explanation  in  the 
difficulties  he  met  with  in  cosmography.^     And  yet  themat- 

*  Journal  of  C.  Columbus,  Sept.  17,  1492.— Fernando  Colombo,  Eistorie, 
cap.  xix.— Tarducci,  Life  of  Columbus,  i,  131—132. 

t  See  ch.  xiii. 

X  A  Spanish  ship  arriving  at  one  of  the  Moluccas  found  that  it  was  Thurs- 
day wbereas  the  Spaniard's  calculation  showed  that  it  ought  to  be  Wednesday  ; 
and  they  were  all  sure  that  there  was  no  error  in  their  calculation. — From  this 
they  came  to  suspect  that  the  course  of  time  from  our  shores  to  those  regions 
must  have  caused  the  difference.  Peter  Martyr,  having  to  relate  this  matter  in 
his  Decades,  did  not  know  what  to  think  about  it,  and  to  put  himself  at 
ease  he  had  recourse  to  the  great  learning  of  Contarini  :    "  Quando  ad  Gor- 


wtlloughby's  expedition.  291 

ter  was  altogether  new  to  Contarini,  as  appears  from  his  letter 
to  the  Council  of  Ten,  of  December  31,  1532,  in  which  he 
says  :  "Discoursing  with  me  on  many  questions  of  geography, 
amongst  other  things  he  told  me  that  he  had  observed  by 
means  of  the  compass  how  to  know  the  distance  between  two 
places  from  the  east  to  the  west,  which  was  very  beautiful  and 
never  before  observed  by  others,  as  your  serenity  may  ascertain 
from  him  when  he  arrives/'*  Nor  could  Peter  Martyr  D' 
Anghiera  have  known  of  it,  as  he  does  not  mention  it  in  his 
Decades  on  matters  of  the  Ocean.  Hence  we  are  driven  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  memory  of  the  discovery  made  by  Colum- 
bus was  entirely  lost  in  the  outcries  of  joy  on  his  first  return,and 
the  complaints  and  calamities  which  came  after  :  and  it  only 
remained  recorded  in  his  Journal,  from  which  it  was  only 
brought  out  to  the  knowledge  of  the  public  after  Sebastian 
Cabot's  death. 

Cabot  prepared  an  explanation  of  this  phenomenon  to  send 
with  two  charts  to  the  Emperor  and  the  Council  of  the  Indies. 
He  promised  himself  a  great  deal  from  his  work,  as  he  clearly 
gives  us  to  understand  in  his  letter  to  John  de  Samano.  Here 
are  his  words  :  "  I  intended  to  bring  it  [the  chart  which  Sa- 
mano had  asked  for]  myself  with  two  others  I  have  made  for 
his  Majesty.  I  believe  His  Majesty  and  the  gentlemen  of  the 
council  will  be  satisfied  with  it,  for  they  will  see  how  one 
can  sail  in  a  circuit  by  means  of  its  courses,  as  is  done  by  a 
card,  and  the  reason  why  the  needle  northeasts  and  northwests 
(varies  to  the  east  or  west)  and  why  it  was  to  do  it,  and  must 
northeast  or  northwest  so  many  points  before  it  comes  to 
point  to  the  north,  and  in  what  meridian,  and  with  this  His 
Majesty  will  have  a  sure  rule  for  taking  the  longitude. "f  But 

pones  navis  haee  regressa  fuit,  diem  fuisse  Mercurii  arbitrabantur,  Jovis  esse 
repererunt.— Unde  diem  unum  in   eo  discursu  aiunt  sibi  ablatum,  ea  trium 

annorum  intercapedine Agitatus  ea  cura  conveni  Gasparem  Contarinum, 

oratorem  apud  caesarem  pro  sua  illustri  Republica  Veneta,  omni  litterarum 
genere  non  mediocriter  eruditum."  Dec.  v,  cap.  7.  —It  is  needless  to  say 
that  I  relate  tbis  anecdote  merely  as  a  proof  of  Contarini's  learning  and  of  the 
estimation  in  which  he  was  held  on  questions  of  cosmography. 

*  See  App.  xxvi. 

t  "pense  de  Uevarla  yo  mismo  con  ntras  dos  que  tengo  fecho  para  su  ma- 


292  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

only  enough  of  this  writing  of  his  is  left  to  make  ns  hope 
that  the  rest  may  some  time  be  brought  to  light.  Richard  Eden 
relates  that  Sebastian  Cabot  on  his  death-bed,  claimed  to"  pos- 
sess.  by  divine  revelation  a  new  and  infallible  way  of  deter- 
mining longitude,  but  which  he  could  disclose  to  no  mortal.* 
This  new  and  infallible  method  was  that  of  finding  the  lon- 
gitude by  means  of  the  arc  of  variation  made  by  the  magnetic 
needle,  which  was  supposed  to  be  parallel  to  the  meridian.  + 
We  know  not  when  Cabot  first  made  use  of  this  method  ;  still 
he  was  certainly  anticipated  by  Columbus,  who  determined  as- 
tronomically a  line  without  declination,  on  September  13, 
1492  :  X  and  on  his  second  voyage  in  1496,  uncertain  of  his 
position,  he  ascertained  it  by  observations  of  the  declinations.  § 

In  the  beginning  of  May,  1553,  the  ships  were  ready  to  sail. 
Sir  Hugh  Willoughby  was  appointed  to  the  command  ,of  the 
expedition,  and  had  with  him  as  chief  pilot  Richard  Chan- 
cellor, and  as  masters  William  Gefferson,  Stephen  Burrough, 
and  Cornelius  Durfoorth.  || 

Each  of  the  three  ships  took  along  for  its  service  a  boat  and 
a  small-boat.  The  flag-ship  was  named  Bona  Speranza,  of  120 
tons;  the  Edward  Bonaventure  was  of  160,  and  the  Bona 


gestad  creo  que  su  magestad  y  los  senores  del  Consejo  quedaran  satisfechos 
della  porque  veran  come  se  puede  navegar  por  redondo  por  sus  derotas  come 
se  ace  por  una  carta  y  la  causa  porque  nordestear  y  noruestea  la  guya  y  como 
es  forcoso  que  lo  baga  y  que  tantas  quartas  a  de  nordestear  y  noruestear  antes 
que  torna  a  bolverse  acia  el  norte  yten  que  meridiano  y  con  esto  terra  su  ma- 
gestad la  regla  cierta  para  tomar  la  longitud."  V.  App.  xlii. 

*  In  the  letter  of  dedication  of  bis  translation  of  John  Taisnerus's  work, 
already  cited. 

f  A.  Humboldt,  Cosmos,  iv,  50.  X  See  bis  Journal. 

§  Fernando  Colombo,  cap.  63.— Humboldt,  lb. 

II  The  following  note  will  show  the  meaning  of  the  term  master: — "Dans  ces 
sortes  de  campagnes,  il  faut  bien  distinguer  le  commandement  militaire  du 
commandement  maritime.  L'  officier  que  le  souverain  a  pourvu  d'une  commis- 
sion est  'le  capitaine  ';  celui  que  la  compagnie  investitdu  soin  de  preparer  et 
de  manoeuvrer  le  navire  s'apelle  'le  master1  ou  ie  maitrey  ....  Le 
maitre  et  le  pilote  ont  peu  de  chose  a  faire  quand  l'escadre  a  pour  chef  un 
Christophe  Colomb  ou  un  Magellan.  Leur  tache  garde  plus  d'importance  si  ce 
chef  s'appelle  sir  Thomas  Pert,  Cortes,  Albuquerque  ou  Vasco  de  Gama"  — 
Vice-Amiral  Juriea  de  la  Gravierein  the  Revue  des  De"1'  Win/fe*.,  15  Juinl876, 
p.  772, 


cabot's  instructions.  293 

Confidentia,  of  90.  Even  the  ship's  names  show  the  strong 
confidence  all  had  in  the  success  of  the  enterprise.  The  first 
carried  a  crew  of  46  men,  the  second  of  48,  and  the  third  of  28. 
The  flag-ship  was  commanded  by  Sir  Hugh  Willoughby  in 
person,  with  William  GefFerson  for  Master;  Richard  Chancellor 
commanded  the  second  with  Stephen  Burrough  as  master. 
The  Good  Confidence  had  Cornelius  Durfoorth  both  as  com- 
mander and  master.* 

As  Christopher  Columbus  had  done  on  his  first  voyage,  Wil- 
loughby took  letters  from  King  Edward  VI  for  the  Kings  or 
Princes  he  should  meet  on  his  way,  written  in  Latin,  Greek, 
and  many  other  languages,  and  dated  the  14th  of  February 
of  the  year  of  the  creation  of  the  world  5515.  Although  the 
expedition  was  commanded  by  a  General,  its  purpose  was 
purely  and  simply  mercantile,  and  Edward's  letter  to  the 
Princes  and  chiefs  of  places  and  tribes  that  should  be  met 
with  on  the  way  to  Cathay,  only  contemplated  entering  into 
treaties  of  amity  with  those  peoples  for  the  interest  and  profit 
of  both  parties. f  Sebastian  Cabot  delivered  to  Willoughby 
his  instructions  for  the  voyage,  consisting  of  thirty-three  par- 
agraphs, which  form  a  document  of  value  not  only  on  account 
of  his  great  sense  and  experience,  but  also  of  his  goodness  of 
heart.  He  resembles  a  father  about  to  start  his  young  son 
on  his  first  journey  in  the  world,  with  no  experience  of  men 
or  affairs  :  he  would  seem  to  want  to  point  out  each  step  of 
the  way,  advise  and  warn  him  of  every  thing,  and  never  tire 
of  repeating  his  counsels  and  admonitions.  They  are  dated  on 
the  eve  of  sailing,  May  9, 1553.+  Their  excessive  length  makes 
it  impossible  to  give  them  in  full  ;  whoever  desires  to  know 
them  will  find  them  in  the  Appendix.  But  special  mention 
must  be  made  of  the  minute  and  wise  rules  concerning  the 
internal  discipline  of  the  ships,  the  relations  of  the  sailors  to 
each  other,  of  inferiors  to  the  commander,  and  his  to  them. 
The  poor  old  man  in  writing  these  admonitions  may  perhaps 
have  felt  the  wound,  which  never  had  healed,  of  what  he 
had  to  suffer  in  his  expedition  to  the  Moluccas,  open  afresh. 

•Hakl'iyt,  ch.  i,  p.  238.  t  Id.  ib.  p.  236.  %  See  App.  lvl. 


294  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

The  orders  he  gave  on  the  observations  to  be  set  down  as 
soon  as  they  discover  new  lands,  in  the  judgment  of  Vice-Ad- 
miral Jurien  de  la  Graviere,  give  a  new  direction  which  has 
always  since  been  followed  by  maritime  expeditions.  Before 
that  time,  with  boldness  of  resolution,  and  un  conquered  free- 
dom, advancing  in  face  of  the  perils  of  the  unknown,  they 
were  under  the  dominion  of  fancy,  which  with  the  attraction 
of  poetical  imagery  clothed  and  embellished  the  contests  and 
fears  of  the  cruel  work  of  those  heroes:  henceforth  it  is  the  cal- 
culating coldness  of  the  mathematician  which  watches,  ob- 
serves, notes,  connects  together  facts  and  accidents,  examines 
and  compares  them  ;  and  from  the  past  with  imperturb- 
able calm  draws  a  rule  and  guide  for  the  future.  In  this  way 
the  "log-book"  was  first  instituted  on  this  memorable  occa- 
sion.* 

"§  7.  Item,  that  the  marchants,"  say  the  Instructions,  "and 
other  skilful  persons  in  writing,  shal  daily  write,  describe,  and 
put  in  memorie  the  navigation  of  every  day  and  night,  with 
the  points,  and  observations  of  the  lands,  tides,  elements, 
altitude  of  the  sunne,  course  of  the  moon  and  starres,  and  the 
same  so  noted  by  the  order  of  the  Master  and  pilot  of  every 
ship  to  be  put  in  writing,  the  captaine  generall  assembling 
the  masters  together  once  every  weeke  (if  winde  and  weather 
shal  serve)  to  conferre  all  the  observations  and  notes  of  the 
said  ships,  to  the  intent  it  may  appeare  wherein  the  notes  do 
agree,  and  wherein  they  dissent,  and  upon  good  debatement, 
deliberation  and  conclusion  determined,  to  put  the  same  into 
a  common  leger,  to  remain  of  record  for  the  company  ; 
the  like  order  to  be  kept  in  proportioning  of  the  Cardes, 
Astrolabes,  and  other  instruments  prepared  for  the  voyage,  at 
the  charge  of  the  companie." 

"§  27.  Item  the  names  of  the  people  of  every  island,  are  to 
be  taken  in  writing,  with  the  commodities  and  incommodi- 
ties  of  the  same,  their  natures,  qualities  and  dispositions,  the 
site  of  the  same,  and  what  things  they  are  most  desirous  of, 


*  "Ainsi  futinstitue  pour  la  premiere  fois,  dans  cette  occasion  memorable, 
to  journal  de  Botd."  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  I.  c.  p.  774. 


SAILING  OF  WILLOUGHBY.  295 

and  what  commodities  they  wil  most  willingly  depart  with, 
and  what  mettals  they  have  in  hils,  mountaines,  streames,  or 
rivers,  in  or  under  the  earth." 

The  conduct  he  points  out  to  be  observed  towards  the  new 
peoples  they  went  on  discovering  shows  the  long  study  he 
must  have  made  on  his  voyages,  of  the  character  of  the  pop- 
ulations when  first  beholding  our  men  with  their  ships  and  ar- 
mour. "For  as  much,"  he  says  §  23,  "as  our  people,  and 
shippes  may  appear  unto  them  strange  and  wonderous,  and 
theirs  also  to  ours  :  it  is  to  be  considered,  how  they  may  be 
used,  learning  much  of  their  natures  and  dispositions,  by 
some  one  such  person,  as  you  may  first  either  allure,  or  take 
to  be  brought  aboord  your  ships,  and  there  to  learn  as  you  may, 
without  violence  or  force,  and  no  woman  to  be  tempted, 
or  intreated  to  incontinencie,  or  dishonestie." 

"  §  26.  Item  every  nation  and  region  to  be  considered 
advisedly,  and  not  to  provoke  them  by  any  disdaine, 
laughing,  contempt,  or  such  like,  but  to  use  them  with 
prudent  circumspection,  with  al  gentlenes  and  curtesie,  and 
not  to  tary  long  in  one  place,  untill  you  shall  have  at- 
tained the  most  worthy  place  yt  may  be  found,  in  such 
sort,  as  you  may  returne  w  t  victuals  sufficient  prosperously.  " 
Some  may  perhaps  regard  as  superfluous  the  care  and 
directions  he  gives  for  keeping  alive  in  seamen  the 
sentiment  of  religion,  and  the  practice  of  those  exercises 
which  grow  out  of  it  and  by  reciprocal  action  maintain 
and  strengthen  it.  But  I  am  of  a  different  opinion,  and 
I  do  not  appeal  in  support  of  my  opinion  to  the  different  way 
of  feeling  and  thinking  in  the  XVI  century  in  contrast 
with  the  unbelief  or  indifference  of  the  XIX  century. 
No,  I  believe  that  at  all  times  and  in  every  place  what- 
ever may  be  the  authority,  it  ought  to  desire  and  take  pains 
to  keep  alive  this  flame  in  the  heart  of  the  people  ;  for  when 
it  is  living  and  rightly  directed,  it  is  the  soundest  and  safest 
guide  in  all  cases  and  in  all  the  circumstances  of  human  life. 
Cabot,  then,  devoted  his  attention  likewise  to  this  and 
reminded  his  mariners  to  act  "for  duetie  and  conscience  sake 
towards  God,  under  whose  mercifull  hand  navigants  above  all 


296  THE  LIFE  OP  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

other  creatures  naturally  bee  most  nigh  and  vicine  ;"  *  then  in 
his  Instructions  he  prescribes,  §  12  :  "that  no  blaspheming  of 
God,  or  detestable  swearing  be  used  in  any  ship,  nor 
communication  of  ribaldrie,  filthy  tales,  or  ungodly  talke  to  be 
suffred  in  the  company  of  any  ship,  neither  dicing,  card- 
ing, tabling,  nor  other  divelish  games  to  be  frequented, 
whereby  ensueth  not  onely  povertie  to  the  players,  but 
also  strife,  wariance,  brawling,  fighting,  and  oftentimes 
murther  to  the  utter  destruction  of  the  parties  and  provoking 
of  God's  most  iust  wrath,  and  sworde  of  vengeance.  These 
and  all  such  like  pestilences,  and  occasions  of  vices,  and 
sinnes  to  bee  eschewed,  and  the  offenders  once  monished,  and 
not  reforming,  to  bee  punished  at  the  discretion  of  the 
captaine  and    master,  as  appertaineth. 

"§  13.  Item,  that  morning  and  evening  prayer  with  other 
common  services  appointed  by  the  King's  Majestie,  and  lawes 
of  this  Realme  to  be  read  and  saide  in  ever}^  ship  daily  by  the 
minister  in  the  Admirall,  and  the  marchant  or  some  other  per- 
son learned  in  other  ships,  and  the  Bible  or  paraphrases  to  be 
read  devoutly  and  Christianly  to  God's  honour,  and  for  his 
grace  to  be  obtained  and  had  by  humble  and  heartie  praier 
of  the  Navigants  accordingly.  " 

On  the  20th  of  May,  1553,  the  squadron  of  the  expedition 
at  ebb  of  the  tide  set  sail  from  Ratcliffe,  and  slowly  moved 
down  the  river,  partly  towed  by  the  two  boats  which  each  ship 
took  with  her  on  the  voyage,  f  The  court  was  then  at  Green- 
wich, hardly  a  mile  from  Deptford  where  the  vessels  stopped 
to  wait  and  take  advantage  of  the  ebb-tide  the  next  morning.;): 
As  soon  as  the  squadron  was  spied  from  Greenwich,  the 
King's  Privy  Council,  which  was  in  session,  adjourned  and 
the  whole  court  was  in  motion  ;  not  only  the  windows  were 
filled  with  courtiers,  Knights,  and  Ladies,  but  the  walks 
of  the  towers  likewise,  whilst  the  more  youthful  raced  to  the 


*P33. 

t  Ratcliffe  is  a  place  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Thames  about  two  miles  and 
a  half  above  Greenwich. 

t  Deptford  is  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Thames  a  mile  and  a  half  below  Rat- 
cliffe. 


297 

river  bank  to  give  a  nearer  salute  to  the  brothers  who  were 
leaving  on  the  great  voyage.  As  to  the  common  people, 
they  all  left  their  houses  ;  no  one  not  absolutely  prevented 
would  miss  the  spectacle  and  the  salute.  On  the  other  hand, 
as  soon  as  the  ships  were  in  view  of  the  Royal  Residence,  the 
seamen  all  dressed  for  parade  were  in  a  twinkling  on  the  deck 
or  climbing  the  masts,  and  while  from  one  side  the  artillery 
was  discharged,  mariners  and  merchants  with  all  their  might 
gave  a  last  salute  to  their  King  and  country  ;  from  the  banks 
of  the  river  and  the  balconies  and  towers  of  the  Royal  Palace 
there  was  a  continual  burst  of  hurrahs  and  clapping  of  hands 
in  encouragement  and  fervent  auguries  of  good  fortune  on 
their  voyage.* 

Alas  !  a  sad  note  disturbs  the  harmony  of  so  many  voices, 
and  augurs  ill  for  the  fate  awaiting  the  expedition.  Edward 
VI,  at  whose  name  the  ships  made  every  hill  and  plain  echo 
their  shouts,  was  not  with  the  rejoicing  people  ;  he  lay  in  his 
room,  slowly  wasting  away,  and  died  soon  after.  Fortunate 
in  dying  in  his  bed,  comforted  by  the  last  words  of  his  friends 
and  relatives,  whilst  the  most  of  those  who  saluted  him  soon 
followed  him  into  the  dominions  of  Death  by  the  most  cruel 
and  fearful  end  imaginable,  f 

It  is  outside  of  our  plan  to  follow  the  course  of  the  expedi- 
tion, but,  as  the  work  of  Sebastian  Cabot,  it  would  leave 
a  void  in  our  narrative  if  we  omitted  it  altogether.  We  accord- 
ingly give  a  few  brief  notices  or  rather  mere  mention  of 
its  course  and  end. 

The  fleet  on  June  23  lost  sight  of  England  and  entered  the 
wide  sea  driven  on  its  northerly  course  by  a  fair  wind  ;  but 
then  the  wind  changed,  and  changed  again,  and  continued  to 
vary  for  many  days,  rendering  the  voyage  very  fatiguing  by 


*  Hakluyt,  vol.  i,p.  272.— From  Richard  Chancellor's  narrative. 

f  Chancellor's  narrative  drawn  up  in  Latin  by  Clement  Adams,  who  had  it 
from  Chancellor's  own  mouth,  puts  the  departure  from  Ratcliffe  on  May  20, 
whereas  Willoughby's  journal  says  it  was  the  10th  of  the  month.  But  the 
variance  is  merely  apparent,  they  both  give  substantially  the  same  day,  for 
Willoughby  follows  the  old  Calendar  approved  in  325  by  the  Nicene  Council; 
Clement  Adams  regulates  the  date  according  to  the  Calendar  as  reformed  un- 
der Pope  Gregory  XIII. 


298  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

reason  of  the  continual  changes  of  the  ships  which  became 
necessary  in  consequence.  July  14  they  discovered  land  to 
the  east.  The  place  showed  some  thirty  huts,  but  not  a  liv- 
ing soul;  perhaps  the  inhabitants  had  fled  in  fright  on  behold- 
ing the  ships.  Continuing  on,  they  discovered  a  number  of 
small  islands,  and  on  the  27th,  they  stopped  at  one  of  them  and 
remained  three  days  there,  but  they  were  unable  to  learn  how 
far  they  were  from  the  mainland.  They  were  now  at  68°  of 
latitude.  Departing  on  the  20th,  they  took  to  coasting  along 
these  islands  till  August  2,  when  they  reached  the  shore  to 
ascertain  what  place  they  had  come  to  :  they  were  now  at  70°. 
A  boat  put  out  from  the  shore  at  sight  of  them  and  came  to 
the  ships,  from  which  they  learned  that  the  place  was  a  small 
island  named  Seynam,  poor,  with  no  other  products  than  a  lit- 
tle dried  fish  and  fish-oil.  As  they  wanted  to  reach  Finmark,* 
they  asked  for  a  pilot  to  guide  them  thither.  They  were  told 
they  could  have  one,  but  must  wait  for  him  till  the  next  day. 
Then,  being  assured  that  the  island  had  a  good  harbor,  they 
started  to  enter  it.  But  both  sides  of  the  entrance  were  very 
high,  and  the  vessels  had  hardly  reached  the  opening  when 
so  violent  a  wind  suddenly  sprang  up  that,  to  avoid  be- 
ing dashed  on  the  rocks,  they  had  to  go  about  quickly  and  take 
to  the  open  sea.  But  the  wind  was  so  fierce  that  to  make 
their  condition  less  desperate  they  had  to  take  in  all  sails  and 
trust  their  fortune  to  the  control  of  the  waves.  The  follow- 
ing night  the  fury  of  the  wind  increased,  accompanied  with 
so  dense  a  fog  that  the  ships  lost  all  sight  of  each  other.  At 
midnight  the  Bona  Speranza  lost  her  boat,  a  serious  loss  in  the 
sort  of  navigation  she  had  to  make.  Daylight  dispelled  the 
fog,  and  when  the  ships  looked  for  one  another  in  the  morn- 
ing, the  Bona  Speranza  and  Confidentia  were  found  safe,  but 
the  Edward  Bonaventure  had  disappeared.  This  separation 
occurred  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cape  North. 

The  voyage  after  this  was  one  continual  struggle  against 
storms  :  the  ships  were  driven   furiously  to  one  side  or  the 


*  Finmark,  •*.  e.  Marshes  or  Borders  of  tbe  Finns,  the  most'northerly  prov- 
ince of  Norway :  its  most  northern  point  is  Cape  North. 


NEW  EXPEDITIONS.  299 

other,  often  obliged  to  go  over  the  same  course  a  second 
time,  in  constant  fear  for  the  present  and  dread  of  the 
future.  What  became  of  the  Bona  Spernaza  is  not  known  ; 
all  trace  of  her  was  lost.  The  Confidentia  was  able  to 
gain  a  harbor  on  the  18th  of  September,  and  as  the  season 
was  growing  severer,  and  snows  and  frosts  heralded  the  ap- 
proach of  Winter's  horrors,  they  determined  to  stay  there  and 
wait  for  the  favorable  season.  They  sent  out  bands  of  ex- 
plorers in  every  direction  to  ascertain  whether  the  land  was  in- 
habited, but  after  much  wandering  around  and  penetrating  as 
far  as  four  days' journey  into  the  interior,  they  all  returned  say- 
ing they  had  not  been  successful. 

There  in  that  harbor  in  the  Spring  of  the  following  year 
they  were  all  found  dead.  We  know  not  what  they  suffered, 
and  perhaps  our  imagination  is  impotent  to  conceive  of  all 
the  horrors  they  endured.  The  details  of  their  course  were 
found  recorded  in  the  Journal  of  the  voyage  written  in  his  own 
hand  by  Sir  Hugh  Willoughby.  It  begins  in  this  way  : 
"  The  voyage  intended  for  the  discoverie  of  Catay,  and 
divers  other  regions,  dominions,  Islands,  and  places  un- 
knowen,  set  forth  by  the  right  worshipful  master  Sebastian 
Cabota "* 

The  Journal  ends  with  the  18th  of  September,  the  day 
when  they  took  refuge  in  the  harbor  :  but  it  is  likely  that 
the  greater  part  of  them  were  still  alive  in  the  following  Jan- 
uary, for  under  date  of  that  month  was  found  the  Will  of 
Gabriel  Willoughby,  a  relative  of  Sir  Hugh,  and  subscribed 
by  Sir  Hugh  himself. f 

Why  did  Sir  Hugh  write  nothing  more  in  his  Journal  after 
the  18th  of  September  ?  We  are  unable  to  answer.  All  we 
can  conjecture  with  tolerable  safety  is  that  they  all  perished 
from  cold  :  this  was  inferred  from  the  appearance  of  their 
bodies. 

This  was  the  first  notable  step  in  the  long  journey  that  was 
to  be  made  before  the  undertaking  set  on  foot  by  the  genius  of 
Sebastian  Cabot  in  1553  was  brought  to  a  close  in  1879,  after 

*  Hakluyt,  i,  p.  258.  t  Hakluyt,  i,  260  &  s. 


300  THE  LIFE  OF  SEEASTIAN  CABOT. 

32G  years  of  attempts  and  enormous  labors  ;  before  a  ship  leav- 
ing our  shores  triumphed  over  the  dangers  and  terrors  of  the 
frozen  seas  and  succeeded  in  reaching  the  seas  of  China.* 
King  Edward  expired  a  few  days  after  Sir  Hugh  sailed. f 
He  was  succeeded  on  the  throne  by  his  sister  Mary,  daughter 
of  Henry  VIII  and  Katharine  of  Aragon.  In  the  second  year 
of  Mary's  reign,  1555,  Richard  Chancellor,  commander  of  the 
Edward  Bonaventure,  returned.  After  several  days  of  vain 
attempts  to  join  his  companions,  he  decided  on  continuing  the 
voyage  alone,  undaunted  by  the  excessive  misfortunes  en- 
dured; and  so  was  the  first  European  to  reach  Archangel  in 
the  White  Sea.J  Leaving  his  ship  there,  he  went  by  land  to 
Moscow  to  have  an  interview  with  the  Tsar  of  Moscovy  or  Rus- 
sia, and  open  direct  relations  of  commerce  between  those  coun- 
tries and  England, — a  journey  of  fearful  length  considering  the 
times,  the  country,  and  the  people  through  which  Chancellor 
had  to  pass.  After  an  absence  of  two  years,  the  intrepid  ex- 
plorer returned,  and  his  arrival  with  favorable  letters  from 
Ivan  Basilivich,  Emperor  of  all  the  Russias,  excited  indescrib- 
able rejoicing  not  less  in  the  commercial  body  than  at  courts 
Then  was  comprehended  the  great  advantages  England  might 
gain  through  the  company  of  merchant  adventurers  for  her 
trade  with  Russia  and  China;  and  to  assure  and  strengthen  the 
company's  continuance  and  activity ,the  government  by  charter 
of  February  6,  1555,  granted  it  the  right  of  a  corporation.  The 
Act  of  Incorporation,  recognizing  that  it  was  wholly  the  re- 
sult of  Sebastian  Cabot's  zeal  and  ability,  not  only  confirmed 
his  appointment  by  the  company  as  governor,  but  conferred 
on  him  that  office  for  life.  ||     The  merchants  on  their  part 


*  The  expedition  of  the  Vega,  a  Scottish  ship,  directed  by  Nordenskioeld. 

t  He  died  July  6,  1553. 

%  [Of  course,  the  author  means  the  first  European  to  reach  there  by  way  of 
the  Atlantic  and  Arctic  Oceans.— Translator.] 

§  Hakluyt,  i,  p.  270  and  s. 

||  "  And  in  consideration  that  one  Sebastian  Cabota  hath  been  the  chief  est 
setter  forth  of  this  journey  or  voyage,  therefore  we  make,  ordeine  and  consti- 
tute him,  the  said  Sebastian,  to  be  the  first  and  present  Governourof  the  same 
fellowship  and  communaltie  by  these  presents,  to  have  and  enjoy  the  said 
office  of  Governour  to  him  the  said  Sebastian  Cabota,  during  his  naturall  life, 


301 

lost  no  time  in  fitting  out  another  fleet  of  three  ships,  and  sup- 
plying them  with  every  thing  useful,  sent  them  on  their  voy- 
age in  the  following  May.* 

The  pension  granted  Cabot  by  King  Edward  was  renewed 
November  27  of  this  year,  f  Why  this  renewal,  if  that 
pension  was,  as  we  said,  for  life  ?  Biddle,  observing  that  in 
the  order  of  renewal  there  was  no  mention  made  of  the  time 
that  had  elapsed  since  Edward's  death,  suspects  that  the 
pension  had  been  withdrawn.}  If  that  was  the  case,  and  I 
believe  it  was,  it  was  doubtless  owing  to  the  rejoicing  excited 
by  Chancellor's  return  that  the  government  felt  forced  to 
renew  this  pension  for  the  services  of  the  aged  Cabot. 

Chancellor,  soon  after  his  return,  sailed  again  for  Archangel 
bearing  the  reply  of  the  English  Monarch  to  the  letter  of 
the  Russian  Emperor.  The  next  year,  1556,  Stephen 
Burrough,  master  of  Sir  Hugh  Willoughby's  vessel  on  the 
late  voyage,  sailed  with  a  small  vessel  to  make  further 
explorations  of  the  passage  sought  for  by  the  north-east  seas.  § 
He  left  a  narrative  of  his  voyage,  and  at  its  commencement 
there  is  a  passage  concerning  Sebastian  Cabot  which  shows 
with  what  loving  anxiety  and  joyful  ardor  the  venerable  old 
man  followed  the  first  steps  of  the  undertaking  he  had  thought 
out  and  set  on  its  way.  Burrough 's  vessel  wras  at  Gravesend, 
and  it  was  now  the  27th  of  April,  the  eve  of  sailing.  But  it 
is  best  to  give  the  account  in  his  own  words  : 

"The  27  April  being  Munday,  the  right  worshipful  Sebastian 
Cabota  came  aboord  our  Pinnesse  at  Gravesende,  accompanied 
with  divers  Gentlemen  and  Gentlewomen,  who  after  that 
they  had  viewed  our  Pinnesse,  and  tasted  of  such  cheere  as 
we  could  make  them  aboord,  they  went   on  shore,  giving 

without  amoving  or  dismissing  from  the  same  roome."  Hakluyt  i,  p.  299. 
V.  App.  lvii. 

*  John  Michiel,  Venetian  ambassador  in  England,  mentions  it  in  two  dis- 
patches. May  21  and  November  4,  1555  (Files  of  Dispatches  marked  "Ingliil 
terra,"  in  the  State  Records  at  Venice).  Rawdon  Brown  published  an  English 
translation  of  them  in  his  Calendar, vol.  vi,  part  i,  pp.  76  and  238  ;  and  Luigi  Pa- 
sini  the  original  Italian  in  his  work  "I  Navigated  al  Polo  Artico." 

t  Rymer,  Fcedera,  vol.  xv,  p.  427.  See  App.  lviii. 

t  Biddle,  Memoir,  bk.  i,  ch.  xxxv,  p.  217.  §  Hakluyt,  i,  306. 


302  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

to  our  mariners  right  liberal  rewards  ;  and  the  good  olde 
Gentleman  Master  Cabota  gave  to  the  poore  most  liberall 
almes,  wishing  them  to  pray  for  the  good  fortune,  and 
prosperous  successe  of  the  serchtkrist  our  Pinnesse.  And 
then  at  thes  signe  of  the  Christopher,  hee  and  his  friends 
banketted,  and  made  me  and  them  that  were  in  the  com- 
pany great  cheere  ;  and  for  very  joy  that  he  had  to  see 
the  towardness  of  our  intended  discovery,  he  intered  in- 
to the  dance  himselfe,  amongst  the  rest  of  the  young  and 
lusty  company  ;  which  being  ended,  hee  and  his  friend 
departed  most  gently,  commending  us  to  the  Governance 
of  Almighty  God."* 

Cabot  was  now  near  his  84th  year.  But  the  sight  of  the  ship 
awoke  in  him  all  the  spirits  and  enthusiasm  of  his  youth, 
and  in  the  midst  of  the  bold  young  men  who  were  marching 
to  the  longed-for  battles  of  the  winds  and  storms,  he  felt 
himself  young  again,  and  joined  them  in  the  dance  to 
celebrate  the  opening  of  the  new  Campaign. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

Sebastian  Cabot's  Death. 

After  the  sailing  of  Stephen  Burrough,  it  again  grows 
dark  around  Cabot,  and  we  approach  the  conclusion  of 
his  life  with  the  painful  conviction  of  finding  there  ingratitude. 
Biddle  thought  the  cause  of  this  ingratitude  should  be 
looked  for  in  the  religious  change  which  took  place  in  England 
when  Queen  Mary  ascended  the  throne,  and  in  the  antipathy 
which  she,  a  fervent  Catholic,  must  feel  towards  those 
who  had  enjoyed  the  protection  of  her  schismatical  father 
and  Protestant  brother.  But  when  Cabot  came  back  to  FiJ- 
land,  the  separation  from  the  Catholic  Church  was  com- 
plete ; — neither  before  nor  after  had  he  ever  taken  any  part 

*  Hakluyt,  vol.  i,  p.  306. 


PHILIP  Il's  ILL-WILL.  303 

in  religious  or  political  questions  ;  his  activity  was  exercised  in 
a  technical  field  where  Catholics  and  non-Catholics  took 
an  equal  interest,  and  the  advancement  of  the  English 
marine  was  a  glory  to  tempt  equally  any  king,  and  promised 
equal  aid  and  benefit  to  his  power. 

On  the  contrary,  the  following  considerations  seem  to 
me  most  just.  Every  new  authority  that  obtains  the  govern- 
ment by  a  party  contrary  to  that  of  the  antecedent  authority, 
is  naturally  inclined  to  pursue  a  course  different  from  that  of 
its  predecessor,  and  to  seek,  from  the  necessity  of  its  own  pres- 
ervation, support  and  alliances  among  the  opponents  of  the 
fallen  authority.  Thus  in  our  present  case  we  see  that  the 
Steelyard  which  had  received  so  powerful  a  blow  from  the 
late  government,  succeeds  under  Mary's  government  in  loosen- 
ing to  some  extent  the  close  network  of  restrictions  in  which 
Cabot's  circumspection  had  caused  it  to  be  enclosed.  It  wTould 
be  childish  to  ask  whether  they  hated  Cabot  heartily,  and 
whether  the  small  portion  of  life  and  freedom  they  had  re- 
gained would  be  employed  in  revenging  themselves  on  him. 
But  there  is  also  another  fact  to  Cabot's  damage,  and  a  most 
serious  one  too.  Queen  Mary  in  1554  gave  her  hand  to  Philip 
of  Spain,  son  of  Charles  V.  True,  Philip's  power  in  no  wise 
extended  to  the  government  of  England,  but  he  could  not  fail 
to  exercise  a  certain  influence  at  court  and  on  the  Queen.  The 
year  before  Charles  V  had  again  requested  Cabot's  return.**  Is 
it  likely  that  Philip  had  forgotten  his  desertion  of  Spain  and 
his  constant  refusal  to  go  back  ?  And  not  having  forgotten, 
that  he  passed  it  over  entirely  as  though  it  had  not  occurred  ? 
It  seems  hard  to  believe  ;  but  granting  that  his  generosity  went 
so  far,  the  powerful  always  have  about  them  some  who 
want  to  interpret  their  desires  with  an  excess  of  zeal  : 
and  the  secret  and  avowed  agents  of  Spain  in  England  would 
be  too  great  an  exception  to  the  rule  if,  knowing  the  King's 
feelings  in  regard  to  Cabot,  they  had  not  yielded  to  the 
temptation  of  interpreting  and  anticipating  his  wishes. 

The  splendor  which  shone  around  Cabot's  head  on  Rich- 

*  See  his  letter  to  Queen  Mary  of  September  9,  1553.  App.  xlviii. 


304  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

ard  Chancellor's  return  dispelled  the  thick  mist  his  enemies 
had  raised  around  him,  and  the  government  had  first  to 
recognize  his  merits  by  appointing  him  governor  for  life 
of  the  company  of  national  merchants,  and  then  to  recognize 
his  claims  by  confirming  the  pension  assigned  him  by 
King  Edward.  But  the  interval  between  the  dates  of  the  two 
ordinances,  from  February  16  to  November  27,  1555,  shows  if 
the  government  was  ready  to  recognize  his  merits  it  was  not 
so  willing  to  acknowledge  his  claims.  And  I  think  it  would 
not  be  hazarding  a  rash  judgment  to  think  that  this 
second  ordinance  cost  Cabot  and  his  friends  many  steps  and 
much  labor. 

But  his  enemies  had  too  much  the  advantage  of  him 
at  his  advanced  age  :  and  when  the  enthusiasm  excited 
in  his  favor  by  Chancellor's  return  had  been  suffered  to 
die  out,  they  returned  to  the  attack,  and  found  means  of 
striking  him  a  sure  blow.  All  had  been  got  from  him  that 
could  be  ;  nothing  now  remained  but  to  wait  the  results 
of  the  new  enterprise  he  had  promoted.  And  for  this  his  work 
was  entirely  useless.  Other  hands,  other  forces  were  neces- 
sary to  push  it  forward.  The  worn-out  tool  is  flung  aside  ;  it 
is  too  rarely  the  case  that  the  memory  of  service  rend- 
ered causes  it  to  be  preserved  as  a  glorious  reminder  of 
what  it  had  been  ;  still  more  rarely  where  governments 
are  concerned.  It  requires  strong  friendships,  long  rooted,  and 
Cabot  had  always  wanted  the  time  to  cultivate  such  :  it  needs 
the  testimony  of  services  rendered,  speaking  out  and  present 
in  the  benefits  derived  from  them  ;  and  for  Cabot  this 
testimony  could  only  speak  in  the  future. 

Moreover  I  cannot  regard  it  as  a  mere  coincidence  that 
Philip  arrived  in  London  May  20,  1557,  and  one  week  later, 
on  the  27th,  Cabot  resigned  his  pension.*  We  are  not  told 
why,  but  may  guess  the  reason  from  the  new  ordinance  signed 
two  days  after  his  resignation.  That  pension  was  not  only  of 
use  to  him,  but  it  was  likewise  an  honor  as  a  glorious 
testimony  to  his  merit       It  would  be  absurd  to  suppose  that 

*  Rymer,  vol.  xv,  p.  466.— See  App.  lix. 


DIVISION  OF  CABOT'S  PENSION  305 

he  renounced  it  freely  of  his  own  accord.  If  he  was  not  ab- 
solutely forced  to  give  it  up,  it  is  fair  to  imagine  such  and 
so  great  pressure  to  induce  him  to  do  so  that  the  poor  old  man 
was  powerless  to  resist.  The  new  ordinance  of  May  29,  renews 
in  Cabot's  favor  the  same  assignment,  but  he  shared  with 
William  Worthington.*  Probably  Worthington  was  given 
him  as  an  assistant  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  en- 
trusted to  him,  which  would  be  perfectly  proper  and  natural 
at  his  very  advanced  age.  But  in  dealing  with  a  man  like 
Cabot,  to  withdraw  for  this  assistance  a  part  of  his  pension  is 
something  more  than  shameful  thrift  in  a  government,  not  to 
mention  that  after  the  pension  had  been  assigned  to  him  for 
life,  to  cut  it  in  halves  was  pure  robbery. 

At  this  point  Biddle  remarks  that  Hakluyt  in  his  first 
work  published  in  1582,  after  citing  the  patent  granted  by 
Henry  VII  and  the  testimony  of  Ramusio,  mentions  Cabot's 
charts  and  discourses  drawn  or  written  in  his  own  hand,  and 
says  they  were  then  in  William  Worthington's  possession. f 
The  ingenious  American  connects  this  remark  with  the  fact 
that  Worthington  was  assigned  as  assistant  to  Cabot,  and 
given  half  of  his  pension;  and  noting  how  greatly  it  was  for 
Spain's  interest  to  lay  hands  on  these  charts,  and  that  after 
this  mention  by  Hakluyt,  both  charts  and  manuscripts  were 
lost  to  sight  ;  raises  the  suspicion  that  Worthington  repaid 
King  Philip's  bounty  by  lending  himself  to  the  base  game  of 
causing  the  charts  to  disappear.^  And  in  another  place 
coming  back  to  the  same  suspicion,  he  says  :  "The  facts  dis- 
closed may,  perhaps,  assist  to  account  for  the  disappearance.  It 
is  obvious  that  such  documents  would  be  secured,  at  any  price, 
by  the  Spanish  Court,  at  the  period  of  Hakluyt's  publication, 
when  English  enterprise  was  scattering  dismay  amongst  the 


*  "Eidem  Sebastiano  et  dilecto  servient!  Willielmo  Worthington."— Ibidem. 

f  The  whole  passage  will  be  given  when  we  come  to  treat  of  Cabot's  charts. 

fit  may  be  sufficient  here  to  say  of  William  Worthington,  that  he  is  joined 
with  Sebastian  Cabot  in  the  pension  given  by  Philip  and  Mary  on  the  29th 
May,  1557.  The  probable  fate  of  the  Maps  and  Discourses  will  be  considered 
on  reaching  the  painful  part  of  Cabot's  personal  history  which  belongs  to  this 
association." 

Biddle,  lib.  i,  cap.  4,  p.  41. 

20 


306  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

Spanish  possessions  in  America.  The  work  of  Hakluyt  (six 
yea*  before  the  Armada)  shewed  where  they  were  to  be  found. 
The  depositary  of  them  was  the  very  man  who  had  been  the 
object  of  Philip's  bounty  during  his  brief  influence  in  Eng- 
land. Were  they  not  bought  up  ?  There  can  be  now  only  a 
conjecture  on  the  subject,  yet  it  seems  to  gather  strength  the 
more  it  is  reflected  on."* 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  Biddle's  inductive  reasoning  has 
a  certain  force  ;  but  I  could  not  be  induced  by  a  mere  induc- 
tion to  throw  the  blame  of  such  infamous  action  on  one  who 
held  most  honorable  offices  in  his  own  country.  It  may  well 
be  that  Cabot's  charts  were  taken  to  Spain,  for  Spain  had  an 
interest  in  their  possession  ;  but  there  were  a  thousand  ways 
in  which  a  crafty  policy  could  get  hold  of  them  without 
Worthington  personally  lending  himself  to  the  shameful 
measure. 

And  here,  since  the  course  of  our  narrative  has  brought  us 
where  we  must  speak  again  of  Cabot's  charts,  it  will  not  be 
out  of  place  to  sum  up  such  information  as  has  reached  us 
concerning  them,  the  more  so  as  one  of  the  many  mistakes  in 
relation  to  Cabot  is  that  he  left  no  account  of  his  voyages,  f 
Of  his  charts,  besides  the  copy  still  preserved  in  the  National 
Library  at  Paris,  there  are  records  of  a  copy  which  Nathan 
Kochaf  saw  at  Oxford  in  1566  ;  that  engraved  by  Clement 
Adams  and  seen  by  Hakluyt  in  the  Royal  Palace  at  West- 
minster ;  X  another  which  Ortelius  had  before  him  when  he 
composed  his  Atlas  ;  §  one  owned  by  the  Earl  of  Bedford  and 
mentioned  by  Willes  ;  ||  the  one  on  which,  according  to  Eden, 
Cabot  had  made  a  design  of  his  exploration  of  the    Plata  ;T 


*Biddle,  cap.  xxxv,  p.  221. 

f  "Great  surprise,"  says  Biddle,  "has  been  expressed  that  Cabot  should 
have  left  no  account  of  his  voyages,  and  this  circumstance  has  ever  been  urged 
against  him  as  a  matter  of  reproach."  Memoir  i,  oh.  iv.  nnd  he  cites  these 
words  of  Hugh  Murray  in  his  Historical  Account  of  North  America, vnl.i,  p.  66. 
"  Sebastian  with  all  his  knowledge  and  in  the  course  of  a  long  life,  never 
committed  to  writing  any  narrative  of  the  voyage  to  North  America." 

%  See  ch.  iii.  §  See  ch.  xii.  1  Ibidem. 

If  "  From  the  mouth  of  the  river  Cabot  sailed  up  the  same  into  the  lande  for 


CABOT'S  CHARTS.  307 

and  three  which  Cabot  himself  mentions  in  his  letter  to  John 
de  Samana,  secretary  to  Charles  V.*  Finally,  there  is  one 
which  Livy  Sanudo  had  under  his  eyes,  "  a  chart  for  sailing,  " 
he  says,  "  carefully  made  by  hand,  and  every  point  described 
by  Cabot  himself. "f  These  charts,  as  we  have  seen,  were  also 
historical  proofs  of  Cabot's  voyages,  owing  to  the  descriptive 
legends  they  bore  concerning  his  discoveries  and  voyages. 
Having  spoken  of  them  already  as  occasion  required  in  the 
course  of  our  narrative,  further  explanations  are  unnecessary 
here.  Nor  is  it  my  design  to  make  a  special  inquiry  concern- 
ing the  merit  the  chart  of  Cabot  which  is  still  left  us,  may 
have  in  Cartography.  Any  one  desiring  this  may  consult  with 
profit  the  special  works  which  treat  of  Cartography  in  the 
XV  Century.  J 

The  last  traces  of  charts  drawn  by  Cabot's  hand  disappeared 
September  20,  1575.  On  that  day,  John  Baptist  Gesio  di- 
rected a  memorial  to  the  King  of  Spain,  Philip  II,  to  recover 
an  ancient  colored  chart  on  parchment,  made  by  Sebastian 
Cabot,  which  he  said  was  the  property  of  the  state,  but  being 
found  among  the  books  of  John  de  Ovando,  deceased,  form- 
erly President  of  the  Council  of  the  Indies,  was  now  put  up 
for  sale  at  auction  with  Ovando's  other  books. § 

But  of  all  the  rich  works  which  I  believe  were  due  to 
his    celebrated    ability    in    cartography   ||     there    remains 

the  space  of  three  hundreth  and  fiftie  leagues,  as  he  wryteth  in  his  own  Guide." 

Eden,  Decades,  fol.  316. 

*  See  A  pp.  xlii. 

+  Geosraphia  distincta  in  xii  libri,  Venezia,  1588,  p.  2. 

X  Harrisse  discusses  it  at  preat  length  in  the  work  we  have  so  often  cited. 
Jean  et  Sebastien  Cabot,  p.  151.  D'Avezac  also  treats  it  at  some  length  in  the 
Revue  Critique  d'Histoireet  de  Litterature.  Premier  Semestre,  1870,  p.  268  and 
seq. 

§  Harrisse,  p.  151.— "Tuvolo  en  gn  nnderhasta  su  muerteel  visitador  y  presi- 
dente  del  eonsejo  de  Indias  Juan  de  Ovando.  Asi  consta  por  memorial  delcos- 
moorrafo  Juan  Bautista  Gesio  al  Rev  froha  de  Madrid  y  20  de  Setiemhre  de 
1575,  en  donde  dice,  que  en  la  «lmoneda  de  los  libros  de  Ovando  estaba  uu 
mapa  antiguo  de  penramino  iluminado  hecho  r>nr  Sebastian  Gahoto,  y  pide  se 
recobre,  porque  le  aseguran  pertenece  a  S.  M."  {BiblioUca  del  Escorial).  M. 
Ymenes  de  la  Espada,  Relatione.?  geogrdphicas  de  Indias,  Madrid,  1881,  p  xxx, 
nota. 

D Scosi  valente  et  pratico  delb'  cose  pertinent!  alia  navigatione  et  alia 


308  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

to  us  only  the  copy  preserved  in  the  National  Library  at  Paris. 
This  is  a  large,  colored  map  of  the  world,  projected  on 
a  single  ellipse  1.48  in  width  and  1.11  in  height.*  It  was  found 
in  Germany  and  bought  for  the  National  Library  in  Paris  in 
1844.  It  bears  no  date  nor  place  of  printing,  but  a  Spanish 
inscription  says  it  was  extended  in  1544  by  Sebastian  Cabot, 
Captain  and  Pilot-Major  of  Charles  V.f 

That  besides  the  traces  and  notes  of  his  voyages  left  on  his 
charts,  he  had  also  written  a  descriptive  account  of  them, 
we  have  certain  knowledge  from  these  words  of  Hakluyt's  : 
"This  much  concerning  Sebastian  Cabot's  discoverie  may  suf- 
fice for  a  present  taste,  but  shortly  God  willing,  shall  out 
in  print  All  his  own  mappes  and  Discourses  drawne  and  written 
by  himselfe,  which  are  in  the  custodie  of  the  worshipful  Mas- 
ter William  Worthington,  one  of  her  Majesty's  Pensioners, 
who  (bicause  so  worthie  monuments  should  not  be  buried  in 
perpetual  oblivion)  is  very  willing  to  suffer  them  to  be  over- 
seene  and  publisched  in  as  good  order  as  may  be  to  the  encour- 
agement and  benefite  of  our  countrymen.  "J 

After  the  halving  of  his  pension,  we  lose  sight  entirely 
of  Sebastian  Cabot,  except  a  slight  glance  at  him  on  his  death- 
bed, assisted  in  his  last  moments  by  the  true  and  kind  Richard 
Eden.  In  the  letter  of  dedication  which  Eden  prefixed  to 
his   translation   of  a   book   by  John  Taisnerus,  §  he  relates 


cosmngrafia,  ch'  in  Spagna  al  presente  noa  v'e  un  suo  pari.  .  .  .il  quale  sapeva 
far  carte  marine  di  sua  mano  et  intendeva  F  arte  del  navigare  piu  ch'  alcun 
altro." 

Ramusio,  vol.  vii,  p.  414. 

— ".  .  .  .  Sebastian  Caboto  ....  era  gran  Cosmografo  .  .  . ." 

Herrera,  Dec.  iii,  lib.  x,  cap.  i. 

*  [About  4  ft.  10  in.  by  3  ft.  8  in.— Tr.] 

f  "  Sebastian  Caboto  capitan  y  piloto  mayor  de  la  Sacra  Cesarea  Catolica 
MajestaddellmperadorDon  Carlos  quinto  deste  nombrey  Rey  Nuestro  Senor, 
hizo  esta  figura  extensa  en  piano,  anno  del  nascimiento  de  Nuestro  Salvador 
Jesu  Christo  de  MDXLIIII  annos." 

X  Hakluyt,  in  the  Dedication  to  Sir  Philip  Sydney  of  his  work.  First  edition, 
1592. 

§  The  title  of  the  book  is  : — "  A  very  necessarie  and  profitable  book 
concerning  Navigation  compiled  in  Latin  by  Joannes  Taisnerus,  etc.  Trans- 
lated into  English,  by  Richard  Eden.  Imprinted  at  London  by  Richard  Jugge." 


cabot's  disposition.  309 

that  Cabot  on  his  death-bed  "with  a  thin  voice  spoke  of 
a  divine  revelation  made  to  him  of  a  new  and  infallible 
method  of  finding  longitude,  but  he  could  not  disclose 
it  to  any  mortal."  It  is  plain  that  Cabot's  mind  was  wander- 
ing •  but  the  direction  it  took  in  his  delirium,  proves  that  his 
thoughts  were  constantly  and  intently  searching  to  solve 
a  problem  which  even  to-day  vexes  the  mind  of  scientists.  As 
to  the  idea  itself  which  his  mind  cherished  in  his  dream,  we 
have  mentioned  it  in  its  place  further  back  in  this  present 
chapter. 

Sebastian  Cabot,  so  far  as  we  can  judge  from  the  portrait 
which  is  left  of  him,  must  have  been  tall,  majestic,  lean,  with 
strongly-marked  features,  and  animated  expression.  The 
rich  dress  in  which  Cabot  is  painted  and  the  great  chain 
around  his  neck  and  hanging  down  to  his  breast,  are  probably 
the  emblems  of  his  office  as  Governor  of  the  Company  of  Mer- 
chant Adventurers.  The  Portrait  was  thought  to  be  Holbein's, 
but  this  opinion  has  since  been  controverted.  I  know  not, 
and  it  is  not  of  any  great  interest  for  my  work,  which  of  the 
two  sides  is  more  likely  right.  In  Purchas's  time  it  was  kept 
in  the  King's  Privy  Gallery  at  Whitehall,  but  afterwards 
passed  into  private  hands,  perhaps  at  the  time  of  the  scatter- 
ing of  objects  of  art  in  the  royal  palaces  which  took  place 
after  the  death  of  Charles  L*  About  the  commencement 
of  this  century  it  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Harford 
Family  of  Bristol,  from  whom  it  was  purchased  in  1842 
by  Richard  Biddle,  author  of  the  Memoirs  of  Sebastian  Cabot, 
who  hung  it  in  his  house  at  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  where  he 
resided,  and  where  it  was  destroyed  by  a  fire  in  1845.f 

Of  the  disposition  and  habits  of  Sebastian  Cabot  we  can  col- 
lect no  reminiscences,  nor  any  special  fact :  but  Ramusio's 
Anonymous  relates  with  expansive  praise  his  courtesy  in 
receiving  him,  and  answering  his  questions  and  comply- 
ing with  his  wishes  :J  and  his  modesty  and  fairness  are 
shown  in  the  enthusiastic  words  in  which,  so  famous  by  his 


*  — Purchas,  iv,  p.  1812.— Biddle,  Memoir  etc.  p.  323. 

f  D'  Avezac,  Berne  Critique,  p.  268.  %  See  App.  xix. 


310  THE  LIFE  OF  SEBASTIAN  CABOT. 

own  navigations  and  discoveries,  he  speaks  of  Christopher  Co- 
lumbus, and  acknowledges  that  he  obtained  from  him  the  first 
spark  which  kindled  his  ardor  for  discovery.*  But  our 
best  proof  of  what  he  was,  not  only  of  his  great  prudence  of 
mind,  but  also  of  his  goodness  of  heart,  is  in  the  instructions 
given  to  Sir  Hugh  Willoughby  ;  of  which  it  is  needless  for  us 
to  speak  further  after  what  we  have  not  long  since  said 
of  them.  That  he  was  a  profoundly  religious  man  is  proved 
not  only  by  the  minute  instructions  he  gives  Willoughby 
that  the  men  of  his  expedition  should  be  regular  and 
punctual  in  fulfilling  their  duties  towards  God,  but  even 
more  by  the  delirium  of  his  last  illness,  when  he  recognized 
as  a  divine  revelation  his  discovery  of  the  declination  of  the 
magnetic  needle.  The  mind  at  that  time  freed  from  all 
motive  of  policy  or  convenience,  left  wholly  to  itself,  uncon- 
scious of  its  thoughts,  invariably  goes  over  and  repeats  again 
the  thought  which  during  life  it  had  often  entertained  with 
a  firm  conviction. 

We  know  nothing  of  when  or  where  he  died,  nor  even  the 
spot  where  he  was  buried.  England,  wholly  occupied  in 
coursing  the  seas  over  which  he  had  directed  her,  had  no 
time  to  remember  or  mark  the  sepulchre  of  the  man  to  whose 
powerful  initiative  she  owes  the  wealth  and  power  which  have 
placed  her  among  the  foremost  nations  of  the  world.  What 
is  still  worse,  her  historical  literature,  so  rich  in  quantity  and 
quality,  has  not  a  book  in  which  his  life  and  work  are  inves- 
tigated and  studied  profoundly  and  at  as  great  length  as 
possible,  although  her  writers  have  at  times  proclaimed 
his  greatness  and  protested  the  gratitude  due  to  him  from  the 
English  nation.  He  was  but  a  few  years  dead  when  a  poet 
celebrating  the  navigations  of  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  to  North 
America,  sang  of  that  region  : 

"  Hanc  tilii  jamdudum  primi  invenere  Britanni 
Turn  cum  magnanimus  nostra  in  regione  Cabotus 
Proximus  a  magno  ostendit  sua  vela  Colnmbo."f 

*  Ibidem. 

f  Stephen  Parmenius,  called  Budaeus,  from  the  cit\r  of  Btida  in  Hungary, 
where  he  was  born.—  Hakluyt,  iii,  176. 


England's  neglect  of  cabot.  311 

In  the  first  half  of  the  last  century  Campbell  wrote  :  — 
"  If  this  worthy  man  had  performed  nothing  more,  his  name 
ought  surely  to  have  been  transmitted  to  future  times  with 
honour,  since  it  clearly  appears,  that  Newfoundland*  had  been 
a  source  of  riches  and  naval  power  to  this  nation,  from 
the  time  it  was  discovered,  as  well  as  the  first  of  our  planta- 
tions ;  so  that  with  strict  justice,  it  may  be  said  of  Sebastian 
Cabot,  that  he  was  the  Author  of  our  Maritime  Strength 
and  opened  the  way  to  those  improvements  which  have 
rendered  us  so  great,  so  eminent,  so  flourishing  a  people"*-  And 
Barrow  wTrote  in  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  :  "  Se- 
bastian Cabot  ....  By  his  knowledge  and  experience,  his  zeal 
and  penetration,  he  not  only  was  the  means  of  extending  the 
Foreign  Commerce  of  England,  but  of  keeping  alive  that 
spirit  of  enterprise,  which  even  in  his  life-time,  was  crowned 
with  success,  and  which  ultimately  led  to  the  most  happy  re- 
sults for  the  nation."  % 

After  these  declarations  repeated  in  sense,  if  not  in  words,  by 
all  the  English  writers  who  have  had  occasion  to  mention 
him,  it  must  seem  almost  incredible  that  so  wealthy  a  nation 
never  thought  of  setting  up  a  memorial  which  would  serve  to 
commemorate,  not  the  name  of  Cabot,  for  that  needs  it 
not,  but  her  own  recognition  of,  and  gratitude  for,  his 
work.  "  He,  "  says  Biddle,  "  gave  a  Continent  to  England  : 
yet  no  one  can  point  to  the  few  feet  of  earth  she  has  allowed 
him  in  return.  "  8 


*  Newfoundland,  i.  e,  the  whole  of  the  new  land  discovered  by  the  English 
in  the  northern  part  of  America. — See  ch.  iv. 

f  John  Campbell' 8  Lives  of  the  Admirals,  art.  Sebastian  Cabot. 

%  John  Barrow's  Chronological  History  of  Voyages  into  the  Arctic  Regions,  Lon- 
don, 1818. 

§  Memoir,  p.  223. 


APPENDIX. 


Different  ways  in  which  the  name  Caboto  is  found  written. 

I  believe  it  would  be  hard  to  find  another  surname  so  al' 
tered  and  distorted  in  writing  as  that  of  Cabot.  I  give  a 
sample  here  to  satisfy  the  reader's  curiosity. 

A.  Gaboto — "  Diose  a  Gaboto  titulo  de  Capitan  General." 
Herrera,  Dec.  iv,  lib.  viii,  cap.  12. 

B.  Gavoto — "  Notifiqueys  un  mandamiento  da  parte  de 
senor  Sebastian  Gavoto."  Diego  Garcia,  in  his  order  to  Cap- 
tain Francis  de  Rqjas. 

C.  Cabota — "Si  aveva  inesso  in  fantasia  Sebastiano  Cabota 
.  .  .  poter  essere  che  qualche  passo  fosse  nel  mar  settentrio- 
nale."  In  the  Raccolta  of  G.  B.  Ramusio,  2nd  Ed.  1866.  vol. 
ii,  p  212. 

D.  Cabot — "Sebastien  Cabot  nomma  pour  commander.  .  .  . 
dans  le  fort  du  S.  Esprit  Nufio  de  Lara."  Charlevoix,  Hist. 
du  Paraguay,  liv.  i. 

E.  Gabot — "II  assembla  quatre  mille  hommes dans 

un  marais,  qui  etait  fort  pres  de  la  Tour  de  Gabot.      Id.  16. 

F.  Gabato — "This  yeare  one  Sebastian  Gabato  ....  caused 
the  King  to  man  ...  a  shippe."  Robert  Fabian  according 
to  Stow's  reading.  1631.  p.  480. 

G.  Cabotto — "Di  Giovanni  e  Sebastiano  Cabotto."  This  is 
the  title  of  a  chapter  in  Placido  Zurla's  work  Sui  Viaggiatori 
Veneziani. 


314  APPENDIX  NO.  1. 

H.  Gavotta — "Henry  VII  ....  extended  his  protection  to 
the  Venetian  John  Gavotta  or  Cabot."  Dr.  Lardner's  Cab- 
inet Cyclopasdia,  vol.  ii,  p.  136. 

I.  Kabot — "John  Cabot  or  Gabot  or  Kabot  would  be  at- 
tended ..."   M.  Clifton  in  a  note  cited  by  Biddle.       Memoir, 

p.  84. 

K.  Shabot — "Mr.  Feckham  had  warrant  for  100  L.  for  the 
transporting  of  one  Shabot  a  Pilot  of  Hispain,"  extract  from 
the  minutes  of  the  Privy  Council  of  Edward  VI,  King  of  Eng- 
land. 

L.  Babate — "Elle  (New  France)  fut  decouverte  premiere- 
ment  par  Sebastien  Babate  Anglois."  A.  Thevet,  Singula- 
ritez  de  la  France  Antarctique.  Paris,  1558,  fo.  148. 

M.  Cabotte  —  "The  twentieth  of  May,  by  the  encouragement 
of  one  Sebastian  Cabotte  three  great  ships  ...were  sette  forthe." 
Stow,  Chronicles,  London,  1580,  p.  1057. 

N.  Caboto,  "The  great  .  .  .  encourager  of  which  voiage  was 
Sebastian  Caboto,"  Holinshed,  The  Chronicle  of  Englande,  Scot- 
lande  and  Irelande,  1557.  ii.  p.  714. 

O.  Cabote — "desirerions  communiquer  aucunes  affaires.  .  . . 
avec  le  Capitaine  Cabote"  .  .  .  Letter  of  Charles  V  to  Mary 
Tudor,  Queen  of  England.  Foreign  Calendars,  1553  —  58,  i.  p. 
10. 

P.  Gabote— "One  Sebastian  Gabote  generall  pplot]  of  the  em- 
perours  Indias  is  presently  in  England."  Dispatch  of  the  Eng- 
lish Ministers,  25  Nov.  1549  (  Colton  M.  Galba,  B.  xii.  fo. 
124). 

q.  Cabott— "paide  .  .  .  in  .  .  .  recompense  of  .  .  .  labour  con- 
ductying  of  Sebastian  Cabott.  43  L.  4  S."  Note  of  expenses 
reported  in  I.  S.  Brewer's  Calendar  Domestic  and  Foreign,  iv. 
part  i,  p.  154. 

Sebastian  Cabot  in  his  letter  to  John  of  Samano  secretary 
to  Charles  V,  signs  himself  Caboto  with  one  t :  this  is  the 
form  most  frequently  met  with  in  the  letters  that  passed  be- 
tween the  Council  of  Ten  and  their  ambassadors  in  Spain  and 
England  in  reference  to  the  same  Sebastian  ;  and  it  is  almost 
the  only  one  found  in  the  acts  of  the  suit  prosecuted  against 
him  in  Spain.  I  have  therefore  preferred  it,  and  the  more  so 


APPENDIX  NO.  2.  315 

because  the  other,  Cabotto  with  double  t,  is  easily  explained  as 
a  slip  of  the  tongue  or  pen  [The  usual  English  form  Cabot  is 
substituted  for  the  author's  Caboto  in  this  translation — Tr.]. 


II. 

Privilegium   Civilitatis  de  intus  et  extra  per  habitationem  Annorum 
XV,  Aluisii  Fontanel ,  olim  depergamo. 

Nicolaus  Tronus  Dux  Venetiarum  etc.  Universis  et  sin- 
gulis tain  amicis  quam  fidelibus,  et  tarn  praesentibus  quam 
futuris,  presens  privilegium  inspecturis,  salutem  et  sincere 
dilectionis  affectum. 

Notum  vobis  fieri  volumus  per  praesentem  paginam,  quod 
cum  inter  cetera,  que  in  mente  nostra  revolvimus,  attenda- 
mus  precipue  nostrorum  subditorum  et  fidelium  devotorum 
tractare  propensius  comoda  et  utilia  salubriter  procurare. 
Cum  hoc  excellence  nostre  decus  aspiciat  et  fidelium  devotio 
utilius  pertractata  in  nostrae  fidelitatis  et  devotionis  constan- 
tia  ferventius  solidetur,  Duximus  volentes  beneficia  recom- 
pensare  pro  meritis  statuendum. 

Quod  quicumque  annis  XV  vel  inde  supra  Venetiis  con- 
tinue habitasset,  factiones  et  onera  nostri  dominii  ipso  tempore 
subeundo  a  modo  civis  et  venetus  noster  esset  :  et  citadinatu? 
Venetiarum  privilegio  et  alijs  beneficiis,  libertatibus  et  im- 
munitatibus,  quibus  alii  Veneti  et  cives  nostri  utuntur  et 
gaudent,  perpetuo  et  ubilibet  congaudetur.  Unde  cum  provi- 
dus  vir,  Aluisius  Fontana,  olim  de  Pergamo,  nunc  habitator 
Venetiarum  in  contrata  Sancti  Iuliani,  sicut  legitimis  et 
manifestis  probationibus  per  provisores  nostri  Comunis  dili- 
genter  examinatis,  nobis  innotuit  annis  XV  Venetiis  contin- 
uam  habitationem  habuerit,  erga  nos  et  ducatum  nostrum, 
fideliter  et  laudabiliter  sub  devotionis  integritate  se  gerens  ;  et 
subiens  continue  factiones  et  onera  nostri  dominii,  digna 
remuneratione  prosequentes,  eundem  ipsum  Aluisium  Fon- 
tana consiliorum  et  ordinamentorum  nostrorum,  necessaria 


316  APPENDIX  NO.  2. 

solemnitate  servata,  in  venetum  et  civem  nostrum  de  intus  et 
extra,  recepimus  atque  recipimus,  et  venetum  et  civem  nos- 
trum, de  intus  et  extra,  fecimus  et  facimus,  et  pro  Veneto  et 
cive  nostro  in  Venetiis  et  extra,  habere  et  tractare,  ac  haberi 
volumus,  et  ubique  tractari.  Ita  quod  singulis  libertatibus, 
beneficiis  et  immunitatibus,  quibus  alii  veneti  et  cives  nostri 
de  intus  et  extra  utuntur  et  gaudent,  idem  Aluisius  in 
Venetiis  et  extra,  libere  gaudeat  de  cetero  et  utatur.  Intelli- 
gendo,  quod  per  mare,  et  in  fontico  theotonicorum,  seu  cum 
theotonicis,  mercari  ;  seu  mercari  facere  non  possit  nisi  de 
tanto  quanto  fecerit  imprestita  nostro  dominio  in  anno.  In 
cujusrei  fidem  et  evidentiam  pleniorem,  presens  privilegium 
fieri  jussimus  et  bulla  nostra  plumbea  pendente  muniri. 

Datum  in  nostro  ducali  Palatio,  Anno  Domini  incarna- 
tionis  millesimo  quadringentesimo  septuagesimo  secundo, 
mensis  August!  die  undecimo  indictione  Quinta. 

Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  provido  viro  Iohanni 
Iacobi  qui  fuit  de  pensauro  nunc  habitatori  Venetiarum,  tem- 
pore serenissimi  principis  domini  Nicolai  Marcelli  Incliti  ducis 
Venetiarum  etc.  sub  bulla  plumbea  MCCCCLXXIII  mensis 
Octubris  die  XXIII  Indictione  VII. 

Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  provido  viro  Martino  Figini 
qui  fuit  de  Mediolano  habitatori  Venetiarum  tempore  serenis- 
simi Principis  domini  Nicolai  Marcello  MCCCCLXXIII  die 
quarto  Iulii  Indictione  VII. 

Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  provido  viro  Autonio  Guli- 
elmi  Calderaio  de  Columbis  qui  fuit  de  Balabio  districtus 
Mediolani  habitatori  Venetiarum  tempore  serenissimi  Prin- 
cipis domini  Petri  Mocenigo  sub  bulla  plumbea  MCCCCLXXV 
mensis  maii  die  quinto  Indictione  Octava. 

Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  provido  viro  Ioanni  Bartho- 
lomei  de  Brixia  habitatori  Venetiarum  tempore  serenissimi 
Principis  Domini  Nicolai  MarcelloMCCCCLXXIIII  die  XVII 
Maii  Indictione  VII. 

Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  probo  et  prudent!  viro 
Ioanni  Pietro  de  Turco  qui  fuit  de  Navaria  habitatori  Vene- 
tiarum tempore  serenissimi  Principis  Domini  Ioannis  Mo- 
cenigo die  XXII  d0  Augusti  1480. 


APPENDIX  NO.  2  317 

Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  Bartholomeo  Antonii 
Casarolo  die  XVIII  Augusti  1481. 

Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  Bernardo  Bartholomei  de 
Pergamo  die  28  Septembris  1484. 

Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  Zacharie  de  panti  de  lodi  die 
28  Septembris  1484. 

Simile  privilegium  factum  fuitBenedicto  Lancelloti  fontana 
die  28  Septembris  1484. 

Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  Ioanni  Sebastiano  et  Stefano 
fratribus  die  28  Septembris  1484. 

Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  Raphaeli  quondam  Antoni 
de  ardiconibus  die  12  februari  1484. 

Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  M.  Stefano  Nicolai  Aurifici 
bulla  aurea  die  26  februarii  1484. 

Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  Ioanni  Caboto  sub  duce 
suprascripto  1476.* 

Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  Dominico  Ioanni  de  la 
Cisio  sub  die  XVIII  januari  1498. 

Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  Iacobo  Deblandratis  sub  die 
XXVII  julii  1500. 

Simile  privilegium  factum  fuit  Io  :  Iacobo  grimasco  papi- 
ensi  die  17  Augusti  1501.  State  Archives,  Venezia,  Libro 
Privilegi,  t.  ii,  p.  53. 

*[Observing  that  some  of  these  records  are  not  in  their  chronological  order, 
I  wrote  the  Author  to  ascertain  if  there  was  not  some  mistake.  Signor  Tar- 
ducci  wrote  to  the  superintendent  of  the  Frari  Archives  at  Venice,  Sig.  F.  Ste- 
fani,  requesting  him  to  compare  the  copy  with  the  original. 

He  received  the  following  reply,  dated  January  26,  1893. 

"The  chronological  confusion  is  precisely,  as  you  have  remarked,  due  to  the 
bad  practice,  if  we  choose  to  call  it  so,  of  the  clerks  of  the  ducal  chancery,  of 
leaving  blank  spaces  for  registrations  which  afterwards  were  not  entered,  per- 
haps from  oversight,  and  which  they  subsequently  made  use  of  to  insert  much 
later  acts. 

"  Such  chronological  confusion  is  also  found  in  other  registers  of  our  arch- 
ives, but  it  does  not  detract  from  the  authenticity  of  the  acts  therein  inserted. 

"F.  Stefani." 

Translator.] 


318  APPENDIX  NO.  '& 


III. 


Inscription  on  Sebastian  Cabot's  Planisphere  (1544)  fin  the  first 
discovery  in  1494. 

1.  According  to  the  copy  preserved  in  the  National  Li- 
brary at  Paris. 

A.  Spanish. — N.  8.  Esa  tierra  fue  descubierta  por  loan  Ca- 
boto  Veneciano,  y  Sebastian  Caboto  su  hijo,  anno  del  nasci- 
iniento  denuestro  Salvador  Jesu  ||  Christode  M.  CCCC.  XCIIII, 
a  veinte  y  quatro  de  Iunio,  por  la  mannana,  ala  qual  pusieron 
nobre  prima  tierra  vista,  y  a  una  isla  grade  que| 
esta  par  de  la  dha  tierra,*  le  pusieron  nombre  sant  loan,  por 
aver  sido  descubierta  el  misrno  dia  la  gente  della  andan 
vestidos  depieles  de  animales,  usan  en  sus  guerras  arcos, 
y  fleehas,  lancas,  y  dardos,  y  unas  porras  de  palo,  y 
hondas.  Es  tierra  muy  steril,  ay  en  ella  muchos  orsos  plancos, 
y  ciervos  muy  grades  como  cavallos  y  otras  muchas  ani- 
males y  semeiantemente  ay  pescado  infinito,  sollos,  salmoes, 
lenguados,  muy  grandes  de  vara  enlargo  y  otros  muchas 
diversidades  de  pescados,  y  la  mayor  multitud  dellos  se  dizen 
baccalaos,  y  asi  mismo  ay  enla  dha  tierra  Halcones  prietos 
cuomo  cuervos  Aquillas,  Perdices,  Pardillas,  y  otras  muchas 
aves  de  diversas  maneras.  || 

B.  Latin. —  Terrain  hanc  olim  nobis  clausam,  aperuit  Ioan- 
nes  Cabotus  Venetus,  necno  Sebastianus  Cabotus  eius  lilius 
anno  ab  orbe  redem  =||  pto  1494  die  vero  24  Julij  (sic), 
bora  5  sub  diluculo,  qua  terra  prima  visam  appellarunt,  et 
insula  quandi  magna  ei  opposita,  Insula  divi  Io  |  annis 
nominarunt,  quippe  quae  solemni  die  festo  divi  Ioannis  aperta 
fuit.  Huius  terrae  incolae  pellibus  axuinalium  mduuntur,  arcu 


*  He  seems  to  mean  that  the  island  was  found  on  a  line  parallel  to  the  main 
land  :  the  Latin  translation  says,  instead,  that  it  was  opposite.  But  the  posi- 
tion of  the  island  on  the  map  agrees  better  with  the  original  Spanish  expres- 
sion. 


A^PKNDIX  NO.  a  319 

in  bello,  sa  — |  gittis,  hcastis  spiculis  clavis  ligneis,  et  fundis 
utuntur,  sterilis  incultaq  tellus  fait,  leonibus,  ursis  albis,  proce- 
risque  cervis,  piscibus  innume — ris  lupis  scilicet,  salmonibus, 
et  ingentibus  soleis,  unius  uhiao  longitudine,  alfisque  diversis 
piscium  generibus  abundat,  horum  autem  maxima  copia  |j  est, 
quos  vulgus  Bacallios  appellat,  ad  haec  insunt  accipHres  nigri 
corvorum  similes,  aquilae,  perdicesque  fusco  colore  aliaeque  di- 
versae  volucres. 

The  Latin  version  given  by  Chytreus  is  identical  with  that 
of  the  copy  at  Paris,  except  that  the  latter  has  Julii  by  mis- 
take, where  Chytreus  has  correctly  Junii. 

II.  According  to  the  transcription  of  Hakluyt  from  the 
copy  in  the  King's  privy  Gallery  at  Westminster,  cut  by 
Clement  Adams. 

Anno  Domini  1494  (so  in  the  first  edition  ;  the  others 
have  1497)  Joannes  Cabotus  Venetus,  et  illius  rilius  earn  ter- 
rain fecerunt  perviam,  quam  nullus  prius  adire  ausus  fuerit, 
die  24  Junii,  circiter  horam  quintain  bene  mane. 

Hanc  autem  appellavit  Terram  primum  visam,  credo  quod 
ex  mari  in  earn  partem  primum  oculos  injecerat. 

Namque  ex  adverso  sita  est  insula,  earn  appellavit  insulam 
Divi  Joannis,  hac  opinor  ratione,  quod  aperta  fuit  eo  die  qui 
est  sacer  Divo  Joanni  Baptistae  :  *  Cuius  incolae  pelles  ani- 
malium  exuviasque  ferarum  pro  indumentis  habent,  easque 
tanti  faciunt,  quanti  nos  vestes  pretiosissi mas,  Cum  bellum 
gerunt,  utuntur  arcu,  sagittis,  hastis,  spiculis,  clavis  ligneis  et 
fundis.  Tellus  sterilis  est,  neque  ullos  fructus  afFert,  ex  quo  fit, 
ut  ursis  albo  colore,  et  cervis  inusitatae  apud  nos  magnitudinis 
referta  sit  ;  piscibus  abundat  iisque  sane  magnis,  quales  sunt 
lupi  marini  et  quos  salmones  vulgus  appellat  ;  soleae  autem 
reperiuntur  tarn  longae  ut  ulnae  mensuram  excedant.  Impri- 
mis antem  magna  est  copia  eorum  piscium  quos  vulgari  ser- 
monevocant  Bacallaos.  Gignuntur  in  ea  insula  accipkres  ita 
nigri,  ut  corvorum  similitudinem  mirum  in  modum  expri- 
mant,  perdices  antem  et  aquilae  sunt  nigri  coloris.  Hak- 
luyt, vol.  iii,  p.  27. 


*  For  what  follows  see  what  was  said  lu  chapter  iv,  p.  59. 


320  APPENDIX  NO.  5. 


IV. 

Petition  of  John  Cabot  to  Henry  VII  King  of  England  for  privilege 
of  Navigation  for  himself  and  his  three  sons. 

Public  Record  Office  (  London  ),  Chancery  Bill  signed,  sub 
anno  11  Henr.  VII.  No.  51. 

Memorandum  quod  quinto  die  Marcii  anno  regni  regis 
Henrici  Septimi  undecimo  ista  billa  deliberata  fuit  do- 
mino Cancellario  Anglieapud  Westmonasteriumexequenda. 

To  the  Kyng  our  sovereigne  lord. 

Please  it  your  highness  of  your  moste  noble  and  habound- 
ant  grace  to  graunt  unto  John  Cabotto  citizen  of  Vencs, 
Lewes,  Sebastyan  and  Sancto  his  sonneys  your  gracious  lettres 
patentes  under  your  grete  seale  in  due  forme  to  be  made 
according  to  the  tenour  hereafter  ensuyng.  And  they  shall 
daring  their  lyves  pray  to  God  for  the  prosperous  continu- 
ance of  your  moste  noble  and  royale  astate  long  to  enduer. 

Rex  omnibus  ad  quos  &c.  salutem,  Notum  sit  et  manifestum 
&c.  as  in  the  following. 


Letters    Pcdent   of  King    Henry    VII  to    John    Cabot   and   his 
three  sons  granting  the  privilege  prayed  for,  March  5,  1496. 

(  Public  Record  Office,  London.  French.  Roll,  sub  anno  llmo 
Henr.  VII.  membran.  23.  )  Henricus  dei  gratia  rex  Ang- 
lie  et  Francie  et  dominus  Hibernie  omnibus  ad  quos  presentes 
litere  nostre  pervenerint,  salutem. 

Notum  sit  et  manifestum  quod  dedimus  et  concessimus,  ac 
per  presentes  damus  et  concedimus  pro  nobis  et  heredibus 
nostris  dilectis  nobis  Iohanni  Caboto  civi  Veneciarum,  ac  Lo- 
dovicOj  Sebastiano  et  Santio  filiis  dicti  Iohannis,  et  eorum  ac 


APPENDIX  NO.  5.  321 

cujuslibet  eorum  heredibus  et  deputatis  plenam  ac  liberam 
auctori  tatem,  falcultatem  et  potestatem  navigandi  ad  omnes 
partes,  regiones  et  sinus  maris  orientalis,  occidentalis  et  sep- 
temtrionalis,  sub  banneris,  vexillis  et  insigniis  nostris,  cum 
quinque  navibus  sive  navigiis  cujuscumque  portiturae  et 
qualitatis  existant,  et  cum  tot  et  tantis  nautis  et  hominibus 
quot  et  quantos  in  dictis  navibus  secum  ducere  voluerint, 
suis  et  eorum  propriis  sumptibuset  expensis  ad  inveniendum, 
discoperiendum  et  investigandum  quascumque  insulas,  pat- 
rias,  regiones  sive  provincias  gentilium  et  infidelium  (  quo- 
rumcumque),  in  quacumque  parte  mundi  positas  que  Chris- 
tianis  omnibus  ante  hec  tempora  fuerint  incognite. 

Concessimus  etiam  eisdem  et  eorum  cuilibet,  eorumque  et 
cujuslibet  eorum  heredibus  et  deputatis,  ac  licentiam 
dedimus  ad  affigendum  predictas  banneras  nostras  et 
insignia  in  quacumque  villa,  oppido,  castra,  insula  seu  terra 
firma  a  se  noviter  inventis.  Et  quod  prenominati  Johannes 
et  filii  ejusdem,  seu  heredes  et  eorumdem  deputati  quascum- 
que hujusmodi  villas,  castra,  oppida  et  insulas  a  se  inventas, 
que  subjugari,  occupari  et  possideri  possint,  subjugare,  oc- 
cupare  et  possidere  valeant,  tamquam  vassalli  nostri  et 
gubernatores,  locatenentes  et  deputati  eorundem,  domi- 
nium, titulum  et  jurisdictionem  eorundem  villarum,  cas- 
trorum,  oppidorum,  insularum  ac  terre  firme  sic  in- 
ventorum,  nobis  acquirendo.  Ita  tamen  ut  ex  omnibus  fruc- 
tibus,  proficuis,  emolumentis,  commodis,  lucris  et  obventio- 
nibus,  ex  hujusmodi  navigatione  provenientibus,  prefatus 
Joannes  et  filii,  ac  heredes,  et  eorum  deputati  teneantur 
et  sint  obligati  nobis,  pro  omni  viagio  suo,  totiens  quo- 
tiens  ad  portum  nostrum  Bristollie  applicuerint,  ad  quern 
omnino  applicare  teneantur  et  sint  astricti,  deductis  omnibus 
sumptibus  et  impensis  necessariis  per  eosdem  factis,  quintam 
partem  capitalis  lucri  facti,  sive  in  mercibus,  sive  in  pecuniis 
persolvere. 

Dantes  nos  et  concedentes  eisdem  suisque  heredibus  et  de- 
putatis, ut  ab  omni  solutione  custumarum  omnium  et  singu- 
lorum  bonorum  ac  mercium  quas  secum  reportarint  ab  illis 
locis  sic  noviter  inventis,  liberi  sint  et  immunes.     Et  insuper 

21 


322  APPENDIX  NO.  6. 

dedimus  et  concessimus  eisdem  ac  suis  heredibus  et  deputatis, 
quod  terre  omnes  firme,  insule,  ville,  oppida,  castra,  et 
loca  quaecumque  a  se  inventa,  %quotquot  ab  eis  inveniri  con- 
tinent, non  possint  abaliis  quibusvis  nostris  subditis  frequen- 
tari  sen  visitari  absque  licentia  predictorum  Ioannis  et  ejus 
filiorum,  suorumque  deputatorum,  sub  pena  amissionis 
tarn  navium  quam  bonorum  ominum  quorumcumque  ad 
ea  loca  sic  inventa  navigare  presumentium. 

Volentes  et  strictissime  mandantes  omnibus  et  singulis 
nostris  subditis,  tam  in  terra  quam  in  mare  const  it utis, 
ut  prefato  Ioanni  et  eius  filiis  ac  deputatis,  bonam  as- 
sistentiam  faciant,  et  tam  in  armandis  navibus  seu  navi- 
giis,  quam  in  provisione  com  meatus  et  victualium  pro 
sua  pecunia  emendorum,  atque  aliarum  rerum  sibi  providen- 
darum,  pro  dicta  navigatione  sumenda  suos  omnes  fa- 
vores  et  auxilia  impartiant.  In  cuius  rei  testimonium  has  lit- 
teras  nostras  fieri  fecimus  patentes :  teste  me  ipso  apud 
westmonasterium  qujnto  die  Martii,  &c. 


VI. 


The  following  despatch  is  in  reply  to  one  from  Dr.  Puebla 
to  their  Catholic  Highnesses.  Puebla's  dispatch  cannot  be 
found,  but  its  contents  are  clearly  shown  by  what  is  said 
by  the  Spanish  sovereigns  in  their  reply. 

Copia  de  parrafro  de  minuta  de  carta  de  los  Reyes  catolicos  al 
Doctor  Puebla  fecha  en  Tortosa  a  28  de  marzo  de  1496. 

Public  Records  of  Simancas.  Capitulaciones  con  Inglaterra  : 
Legajo  (  a  mass  of  loose  papers  )  2°,  f  °,  16. 

Quanto  a  lo  que  desis  que  alia  es  yda  uno  como  colon  para 
poner  al  Rey  de  ynglaterra  en  otro  negocio  como  el  de  las  yn- 
dias  syn  perjuysio  de  espana  ni  de  portogal  sy  asy  le  acude  a 


APPENDIX  NO.  7.  323 

el  como  a  nosotros  lo  de  las  yndias  bien  librado  estara  crehemos 
que  esto  sera  echadiso  del  Rey  de  francia  por  poner  en  esto  la 
Rey  de  ynglaterra  para  le  apartar  de  otros  negocios,  mirad  que 
procureis  que  en  esto  ny  en  lc  semejante  no  Resciba  engaiio 
el  Rey  de  ynglaterra  que  por  quantas  partes  pudieren  traba- 
jaran  los  franceses  de  gelo  hazer,  y  estas  cosas  semej antes  son 
cosas  muy  yn  ciertas  y  tales  que  para  agora  no  conviene  enten- 
der  en  ellas  y  tan  bien  mirad  que  aquellas  ..  .*  no  se  puede  en- 
tender  en  esto  syn  perjuisio  nuestro  o  del  Rey  de  portogal. 

Harrisse,  in  communicating  to  Desimonithis  dispatch, which 
with  the  exception  of  one  sentence,  was  unpublished,  adds  : 
4kJe  n'  ai  plus  la  premiere  phrase  :  J'ai  regu  votre  lettre  du  21 
Janvier"  Desimoni,  Intorno  a  Giovanni   Caboto,  Genova,  1881. 


VII. 

Extract  from  an  anonymous  chronicle,  part  of  Robert  Cotton's  collec- 
tion in  the  British  Museum,  on  the  voyage  of  John  Cabot  in  1497. 

In  anno  13  Henr.  VII.  This  yere  the  Kyng  at  the  besy 
request  and  supplication  of  a  Straunger  venisian,  wich  by  a 
Coeart  made  hym  self  expert  in  knowying  of  the  world  caused 
the  Kyng  to  manne  a  ship  wT  vytaill  and  other  necessair- 
ies  for  to  seche  an  iland  wheryn  the  said  Straunger  surmysed 
to  be  grete  commodities  :  w*  which  ship  by  the  Kynges 
grace  so  Rygged  went  3  or  4  moo  owte  of  Bristowe,  the  said 
Straunger  beyng  Conditor  of  the  saide  Flete,  wheryn  diuers 
merchauntes  as  well  of  London  as  Bristow  aventured  goodes 
and  sleight  merchaundises,  which  departed  from  the  West 
Cuntrey  in  the  begynnyng  of  Somer,  but  to  this  present 
moneth  came  nevir  Knowlege  of  their  exployt. 

(Ms.  Cott.  Vitellius,  A.  xiv.  f.  173,  British  Museum. 

*  M.  d'  Avezac  fills  this  spnCP  with  the  word  partes. 


324  APPENDIX  NO.  9. 


VIII. 

Extract  from  the  Chronicle   attributed   to   Robert  Fabyan,   ac- 
cording to  Richard  Hakluyt's  reading. 

A  note  of  Sebastian's  Gabotes  voyages  of  Discoverie, 
taken  out  of  an  old  chronicle,  written  by  Kobert  Fabyan, 
some  time  Alderman  of  London,  which  is  in  the  custody 
of  John  Stowe,  citizen,  a  diligent  searcher  and  preserver  of 
antiquities. 

This  yere  the  King  (by  meanes  of  a  Venetian,  which 
made  himselfe  very  expert  and  cunning  in 
Knowledge  of  the  circuit  of  the  worlde,  and 


In  cue  13  yere 
of   King    Heurie 

the  vii,  1498.  ilands  of  the  same  as  by  a  carde,  and  other 
demonstrations  reasonable  hee  shewed)  caused  to  man  and 
victuall  a  shippe  at  Bristow  to  search  for  an  ilande,  which  hee 
saide  hee  Knewe  wel  was  riche,  and  replenished  with  riche 
commodities.  Which  ship  thus  manned  and  victualled  at 
the  Kinges  cost,  divers  marchants  of  London  ventured  in  her 
small  stockes,  being  in  her,as  chiefe  Patron e,  the  said  Venetian. 
And  in  the  company  of  the  said  shippe  sayled  also  out  of 

; :    Bristowe,  three  or  foure  small  ships,  fraught  with 

— '    sleight  and  grosse  merchandizes  as  course  cloth, 


Caps,  laces,  points  and  other  trifles,  and  so  departed  from 
Bristowe  in  the  beginning  of  May  :  of  whom 
in  this  Maior's  time  returned  no  tidings. 


William  Purchas 
Maior  of  London 


(Hakluyt,  Divers  voyages  touching  the  discourse  of  America. 
London,  1582,  in  4to.) 


IX. 

The  same  extract  according  to  John  Stowe's  reading. 

In  anno  14  Henr.   VII*  This  yeare  one  Sebastian  Gabato 
a  genoas   sonne   borne   in   Bristow   professing    himselfe    to 


*  The  number  14  is  an  error  ;  it  should  be  13,  as  Hakluyt  puts  it,  and 
also  Anonymous  in  the  Cottonian  collection. 


APPENDIX  NO.  10.  325 

be  experte  in  knowledge  of  the  circuit  of  the  worlde  and 
Ilandes  of  the  same,  as  by  his  Charts  and  other  reason- 
able demonstrations  he  shewed,  caused  the  King  to  man  and 
victual  a  shippe  at  Bristow  to  search  for  an  Ilande  wiche 
he  Knewe  to  be  replenished  with  rich  commodities  :  in  the 
ship  diverse  merchauntes  of  London  adventured  smal  stockes, 
and  in  the  company  of  this  shippe,  sayled  also  out  of  Bristow 
three  or  foure  smal  shippes  fraught  with  slight  and  grosse 
wares  as  course  cloth,  Caps,  Laces,   points  and  such  other. 

(Annals  or  a  great  Chronicle  of  England  begun  by  I.  Stow, 
continued  by  Edm.  Howes,  London,  1631.  p.  480.) 

Stow  follows  this  extract  with  this  other  taken  from  Sir  Hum- 
phrey Gilbert's  Discourse  For  a  new  Passage  to  Cataia. 

Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  Knight  in  his  booke  intituled  a  dis- 
coverie  for  a  new  passage  to  Cataia  writeth  thus,  Sebastian 
Gabato,  by  hys  personal  experience  and  travaile  hath  set  forth 
and  discribed  this  passage  in  his  Chartes,  whiche  are  yet  to  be 
seene  in  yc  queenes  Maiestes  privie  Gallerie,  at  White  Hall, 
who  was  sent  to  make  this  discoverie  by  King  Henrie  the  sev- 
enth, and  entered  the  same  fret,  affirming  y1  he  sayled  very  far 
westward  wyth  a  quarter  of  the  North  on  the  Northside  of  Terra 
de  Labrador,  the  eleventh  of  June,  until  he  came  to  the  sep- 
tentrional latitude  of  67  h  degrees,  and  finding  the  seas  stil 
open,  sayd,  y  the  might  and  would  have  gone  to  Cataia  if  the 
inimitie  of  the  Maister  and  Mariners  had  not  bene. 


X. 

Extracts  from  accounts  of  the  privy  purse  of  Henry  VII  (from 
the  M  S.  of  the  British  Museum,  Additional  7099,  printed  in 
the  Excerpta  Historica,  or  Illustrations  of  English  History,  pub- 
lished by  S.  Bentley,  London,  1831. ) 

— Fol.  41  (anno)  12  Henrie  VII,  1497. 
"August  10.  To  hym  that  founde  the  new  Isle,  L.  10."  (p.  113.) 
—Fol.  45,  12  Hen.  VII,  1498. 


326 


APPENDIX  NO.  11. 


"March  22.  To  Lanslot  Thirkill  of  London  upon  a  Prest  for 
his  shipp  going  towards  the  new  Ilande,  L.  20." 

— "Item  delivered  to  Launcelot  Thirkill  going  towards  the 
new  He  in  Prest,  L.  20." 

"April  1st.  Item  to  Thomas  Bradley  and  Launcelot  Thir- 
kill going  to  the  new  Isle,  L.  30." 

—"To  John  Carter  going  to  the  newe  He  in  reward,  40  s." 
(pp.  116,  117.) 


XI. 

Copia  de  uno  capitolo  scrive  in  una  letera  Bier  Lorenzo  Pasqualigo 
di  Sier  Filippo,  di  Londra  adi  23  agosto,  a  Sier  Alvise  e  Francesco 
Pasqualigo  suo  fradeli  Veniexia,  ricevuta  adi  23.  Setembrio  1497. 

"L'e  venuto  sto  nostro  Venetiano  che  ando  con  uno  navilio 
de  Bristo  a  trovar  ixole  nove,  e  dice  haver  trovato  lige  700 
lontam  de  qui  Teraferma,  ze  el  paexe  del  gram  cam,  e  che 
andato  per  la  costa  lige  300,  e  che  desmontato  e  non  a  visto 
persona  alguna,  ma  a  portato  qui  al  re  certi  lazi  ch'era  tesi 
per  prender  salvadexine,  e  uno  ago  da  far  rede  e  a  trovato 
certi  albori  tagiati,  si  che  per  questo  iudicha  che  ze  persone. 
Vene  in  mare  per  dubito,*  et  e  stato  mexi  tri  sul  viazo  e  questo 
e  certo,  e  al  tornar  aldreto  a  visto  do  ixole  ma  non  ha  voluto 
desender  per  non  perder  tempo  che  la  vituaria  li  mancava. 
Sto  re  ne  habuto  grande  piacer  e  dise  che  le  aque  e  stanche  e 
non  hano  corso  come  qui.  El  re  li  ha  promesso  a  tempo  novo 
navil  X  e  armati  come  lui  vora  ed  ali  dato  tutti  i  presonieri 
da  traditori  in  fuora  che  vadano  con  lui  come  lui  a  richiesto 
e  ali  dato  danari  fazi  bona  ziera  fino  a  quel  tempo  e  con  so 
moier  venitiana  e  con  so  noli  a  Bristo.  El  qual  se  chiama 
Zuam  Talbot,  f  e  chiamasi   el  gran  armirante  e  vienli  fato 


*  It  seems  that  he  means  to  say  :  "in  the  belief  that  the  country  was  inhab- 
ited he  returned  to  his  ship  per  dubito,  i.  e.  doubting  of  his  reception  by  the 
natives." 

f  "I  have  no  doubt  that  we  should  read  Cabot,  the  more  so  as  this  name 
is  altered  to  Cabot  in  the  later  pages  of  the  text  of  Sanudo.   This  is  further 


APPENDIX  NO.  12.  327 

gran de  honor  e  va  vestido  deseda  e  sti  Inglexi  li  vano  driedo 
a  mo  pazi  e  pur  ne  volese  tanti  quanti  navrebbe  con  lui  e 
etiam  molti  de  nostri  furfanti.  Sto  inventor  de  queste  cose  a 
impiantato  suli  terreni  a  trovato  una  gran  4*  con  una 
bandiera  de  Ingeltera  e  una  de  san  Marcho  per  essere  lui 
Venetiano,  si  che  el  nostro  confalone  se  stese  molto  in  qua  .  " 
(Marin  Sanudo.  Diarii,  vol.  i,  p.  806.  Venezia,  1879.). 


XII. 


Extract  from  a  letter  of  Raimondo  da  Soncino,  Ambassador  of  the 
Duke  of  Milan  to  the  Court  of  Henry  VII  (Archivii  Sforza 
Milano.) 

Rawdon  Brown  published  it  in  English  in  his  Calendar  &c, 
vol.  iii,  p  260,  n.  750.  The  original  in  the  State  archives  of 
Milan  cannot  be  found  :  H.  Harrisse  has  published  the  text 
as  in  the  original,  as  it  appears  from  the  copy  which  Rawdon 
Brown  got  from  the  Public  Record  Office.     It  runs  thus  : 

Londra,  24  Agosto,  1497. —  Item  la  Magesta  de  Re  sono 
mesi  passate  havia  mandato  uno  Veneciano  el  qual  e  molto 
bono  marinare  e  a  bona  scientia  de  trovare  insule  nove,  e 
ritornato  a  salvamento  et  a  ritrovato  due  insule  nove  gran- 
dissime  et  fructiffere  et  etiam  trovato  le  septe  citade  lontane 
da  1'  insula  de  Ingilterra  lege  400  per  lo  camino  de  ponente  : 
la  Maesta  de  Re  questo  primo  bono  tempo  gli  vole  man- 
dare  XV  in  XX  navili. 

H.  Harrisse,  Jean  et  Sebastien  Cabot,  p.  323. 


justified  by  note  74  on  page  217  of  vol.  i  of   Rawdon  Brown's  work.    On  the 
Life  and  works  of  Marin  Sanudo."  L.  Pasini,  INavigatoH  al  Polo  Artico,  p.19. 


328  APPENDIX  NO.  13. 


XIII. 

Second  Letter  of  Raimondo  da  Soncino  (Archivio  di  Stato  in 
Milano,  Potenze  Estere,  Inghilterra,  1497,  dicembre). 

18  Decembre  1497. —  Illustrissimo  et  excellentissimo  Signor 
mio.  Forsi  che  tra  tante  occupatione  V.  Ex.  non  li  sara  rao- 
lesto  intendere  come  questa  Maesta  ha  guadagnato  una  parte 
de  Asia  senza  colpo  de  spada.  In  questo  regno  e  uno  popo- 
lare  Venetiano  chiamato  messer  Zoanne  Caboto  de  gentile 
ingenio,  peritissimo  della  navigatione,  el  qual  visto  ehe  li 
Serenissimi  Re  prima  del  Portugallo  poi  de  Spagna  hanno  oc- 
cupato  isole  incognite,  delibera  fare  uno  simile  acquisto  per 
dicta  Maesta.  Ed  impetrato  privilegj  regij,  che  lutile  dominio 
de  quanto  el  trovasse  fosse  suo,  purche  lo  diretto  se  reserva 
alia  Corona,  cum  uno  piccolo  naviglio  e  XVIII  persone  se  pose 
ala  fortuna,  et  partitosi  da  Bristo  porto  occidentale  de  questo 
regno  et  passato  Ibernia  piu  occidentale,  e  poi  alzatosi  verso 
el  septentrione,  comencio  ad  navigare  ale  parte  orientale, 
lassandosi  (fra  qualche  giorni)  la  tramontana  ad  mano  drita, 
et  havendo  assai  errato,  inline  capitoe  in  terra  ferma,  dove 
posto  la  bandera  regia,  et  tolto  la  possessione  per  questa 
Alteza,  et  preso  certi  segnali,  se  ne  ritornato.  Al  ditto  messer 
Zoanne,  come  alienigena  et  povero  non  saria  creduto,  se  li  com- 
pagni  chi  sono  quasi  tutti  inglesi  et  da  Bristo  non  testificas- 
sero  cio  che  lui  dice  esser  vero.  Esso  messer  Zoanne  ha  la  des- 
criptione  del  mondo  in  una  carta,  et  anche  in  una  sphera 
solida  che  lui  ha  fatto,  et  demonstra  dove  e  capitato,  et  an- 
dando  verso  el  levante  ha  passato  assai  el  paese  del  Tanais.  Et 
dicono  che  la  e  terra  optima  et  temperata,  et  estimanno  que  vi 
nasca  el  brasilio  et  le  sete,  et  affermanno  che  quello  mare  e 
coperto  de  pessi  li  quali  se  prendenno  non  solo  cum  la  rete,  ma 
cum  le  ciste,  essendoli  alligatouno  saxo  ad  cio  chela  cista  se 
impozi  in  lagua,  et  questo  io  l'ho  oldito  narrare  al  dicto  mes- 
ser Ioanne. 

Et  ditti  Inglesi  suoi  compagni  dicono  che  portaranno  tanti 


APPENDIX  NO.  13.  329 

pessi  che  questo  regno  no  havera  piu  bisogno  de  Islanda,  del 
quale  paese  viene  una  grandissima  mercantia  de  pessi  che  si 
chiamano  stockfisse.  Ma  messer  Zoanne  ha  posto  1'  animo  ad 
magior  cosa  perche  pensa,  da  quello  loco  occupato  andarsene 
sempre  a  Riva  Riva  piu  verso  el  Levante,  tanto  chel  sia  al  op- 
posito  de  una  Isola  da  lui  chiamata  Cipango,  posta  in  la  re- 
gione  ©quinoctiale,  dove  crede  che  nascono  tutte  le  speciarie 
del  mundo  et  anche  le  gioie,  et  dice  che  altre  volte  esso  e 
stato  alia  Meccha,  dove  per  caravane  de  luntani  paesi  sono  por- 
tate  ie  speciarie,  et  domandati  quelli  che  le  portanno,  dove 
nascono  ditte  speciarie,  respondenno  che  non  sanno,  ma  che 
venghono  cum  questa  mercantia  da  luntani  paesi  ad  casa  sua 
altre  caravane,  le  quale  ancora  dicono  che  ad  loro  sono  por- 
tate  da  altre  remote  regioni.  Et  fa  questo  argumento  che  se 
li  orientali  affermanno  ali  meridionali  che  queste  cose  vengho- 
no lontano  da  loro,  et  cosi  da  mano  in  mano,  presupposta  la 
rotundita  della  terra,  e  necessario  che  li  ultimi  le  tolliano  al 
septentrione  verso  1'  occidente.  Et  dicello  per  modo  che  non 
me  constando  piu  como  costa,  ancora  io  lo  credo.  Et  che  e 
maggior  cosa  questa  maesta  che  e  savia  et  non  prodiga,  an- 
cora lei  li  presta  qualche  fede,  perche  da  poi  chel  e  tomato, 
li  da  assai  bona  provisione  come  esso  messer  Zoanne  me  dice. 
Et  a  tempo  novo  se  dice  che  la  Maesta  prefata  armara  alcuni 
naviglij,  et  ultra  li  daratutti  li  malfattori  et  anderano  in 
quello  paese  ad  fare  una  colonia,  mediante  la  quale  sperano 
de  fare  in  Londres  magior  fondaco  de  speciarie  che  sia  in  A- 
lexandria,  et  li  principali  dell'  impresa  sono  de  Bristo,  grandi 
marinari  li  quali  hora  che  sanno  dove  an  dare,  dicono  che  la 
non  e  navigatione  de  piu  che  XV  giorni,  ne  hanno  mai  for- 
tuna  come  abandonano  Ibernia.  Ho  ancora  parlato  cum  uno 
Borgognone  compagno  di  mess.  Zoanne  chi  afferma  tutto  et 
vole  tornarci  perche  lo  armirante  (che  gia  messer  Zoanne  cosi 
se  intitula)  li  ha  donato  una  Isola  ;  et  ne  ha  donato  una  al- 
tra  ad  un  suo  barbiere  da  castione  genovese,  et  intrambi  se  re- 
putanno  conti,  ne  monsignor  L'  Armirante  se  estima  manco 
de  principe.  Credo  ancora  andarano  cum  questo  passaggio 
alcun  poveri  frati  Italiani  li  quali  tutti  hanno  promissione 
de  Vescovati.    Et  per  essere  io  fatto  amico  de  Larmirante, 


330  APPENDIX  NO.  14. 

quando  volessi  andarvi,  haverei  uno  Archivescovato,  ma  ho 
pensato  chel  sia  piu  secura  cosa  li  beneficij  quali  V.  Ex.  me 
ha  reservati,  et  perho  supplico  che  quando  vacassero  in  mia 
absentia  la  me  faccia  dare  la  possessione,  ordenando  fra  questo 
megio  dove  bisogna,  che  non  me  siano  tolti  da  altri,  li  quali 
per  essere  presenti  possono  essere  piu  diligenti  di  me,  el  quale 
sono  redutto  in  questo  paese  ad  mangiare  ogni  pasto  de  x  o 
xii  vivande,  et  stare  tre  hore  ad  tavola  per  volta  ogni  giorno 
due  volte  per  amore  de'  Vostra  Excellentia.  A  la  quale  hu- 
milmente  me  recomando. 

Londonie,  xviii  Decern.  1497. 

Excellentie  Vestre, 

Humillimus  Servus, 

Raimundus. 


XIV. 

Second   Letter    Patent  of  the    King  of   England  to   John  Cabot 
(  1498,  3  February  ). 

(  Public  Record  office,  Chancery,  signed  Bill,  sub  anno 
13  Henr.  VII.  no.  6  ). 

Memorandum  quod  tertio  die  februarii  anno  regni  regis 
Henrici  Septimi  XIII  ista  Billa  deliberata  fuit  domino  Can- 
cellario  Anglie  apud  Westmonasterium  exequenda. 
To  the  Kynge. 

Please  it  your  Highnesse,  of  your  moste  noble  and  abund- 
ant grace  to  graunte  to  John  Kabotto,  Veneciane  your  gracious 
lettres  patentes  in  due  forme  to  be  made  accordyng  to 
the  tenor  hereafter  ensuyng,  and  hy  shall  continually  praye  to 
God  for  the  preservation  of  your  moste  noble  and  royale 
astate  longe  to  endure. 

H.  R.  (  Henricus  Rex.  ). 

To  all  men  to  whom  theis  Presentis  Shall  come  send  Greting 
Knowe  ye  that  we  of  our  Grace  especiall,  and  for  dyvers  causis 
us  movyng,  We  have  geven  and  graunten  and  by  theis 
Presentis  geve  and  graunte  to  our  well  beloved  John  Kabotto, 


APPENDIX  NO.  15.  331 

Venician,  sufficiente  auctorite  and  power,  that  he,  by  hym  his 
Deputie  or  Deputies  sufficient,  may  take  at  his  pleasure  VI 
Englisshe  shippes  in  any  Porte  or  Portes  or  other  place 
within  this  our  Realme  of  England  or  obeinsaunce  to  that, 
and  if  the  said  shippes  be  of  the  bourdeyn  of  CC.  ton- 
nes or  under,  with  their  appareil  requisite  and  necessarie 
for  the  safe  conduct  of  the  said  shippes,  and  theym  con- 
vey and  lede  to  the  Lande  and  lies  of  late  founde  by  the  seid 
John  in  oure  name  and  by  oure  coumandemente,  payng  for 
theym  and  every  of  theym  as  and  if  we  should  in  or  for 
our  owen  cause  paye  and  noon  otherwise. 

And  that  the  seid  John  by  hym  his  Deputie  or  Deputies 
sufficiente  maye  take  and  receyve  into  the  seid  shippes 
and  every  of  theym  all  suche  maisters,  maryners,  pages, 
and  our  subjects,  as  of  theyr  owen  free  wille  woll  goo 
and  passe  with  hym  in  the  same  shippes  to  the  seid  Lande  or 
lies  withoute  any  impedymente  lett  or  perturbance  of 
any  of  our  officeis  or  ministress  or  subjectes  whatsoevir 
they  be  by  theym  to  the  seid  subjectes  or  any  of  theym  passing 
with  the  seid  John  in  the  seid  shippes  to  the  seid  Lande  or 
lies  to  be  doon  or  suffer  to  be  doon  or  attempted.  Yeving  in 
commaundement  to  all  and  every  our  officers  ministres 
and  subjectes  seyng  or  heryng  theis  our  lettres  patents,  with- 
oute anye  ferther  commaundement  by  us  to  theym  or 
any  of  theym  to  be  geven,  to  perfourme  and  socour  the  seid 
John,  his  Deputie  and  all  our  seid  subjectes  to  passynge  with 
him  according  to  the  tenor  of  theis  our  lettres  patentis.  Any 
Statute,  acte  or  ordenaunce  to  the  contrarye  made  or  to 
be  made  in  any  wise  notwithstanding. 


XV. 

Letter  of  Dr.  Puebla  to  the  Catholic  Kings,  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella (1498  ). 

"  El  Rey  de  Inglaterra  embia  cinco  naos  armadas  con  o- 
tro  genoves  como  colono  a  buscar  la  Isla  de  Brasil  y  las  vicin- 


332  APPENDIX  NO    16. 

idades,*  fueron  proveydos  por  un  afio.  Dicen  que  seran 
venidos  para  al  el  Septiembre.  Vista  la  derrota  que  llevan 
alio  que  lo  que  buscan  es  lo  que  Vuestras  Altezas  poseen.  El  rey 
mehafablado  alcunas  veces  subrello  espera  haver  muy  gran  in- 
teresse.      Creo  que  no  hay  de  aqui  alia  CCCC  leguas." 

Extracted  from  Bergenroth's  charts  preserved  in  the  Public 
Eecord  Office  at  London,  on  the  copy  which  he  drew  from 
the  original  in  the  archives  of  Simancas.  It  is  undated 
but  from  its  contents  must  have  little  preceded  the  following 
letter  from  Ayala. 


XVI. 

Letter  of  Prothonotary  Pedro  de  Ayala  to  the  Catholic  Kings 
(25  July,  1498  ). 

"  Bien  creo,  vuestras  altezas  an  oido,  como  el  Rey  de  Ing- 
laterra  ha  fecho  armada  para  descubrir  ciertas  islas  y  tierra 
tirme  que  le  han  certificado  hallaron  ciertos  que  de  Bristol 
armaron  afio  passado  para  lo  mismo.  Yo  he  visto  la  carta 
que  ha  fecho  el  inventador  que  es  otro  genoves  como  Colon 
que  ha  estado  en  Sevilla  y  en  Lisbona  procurando  haver  quien 
le  ayudasse  a  esta  invencion.  Los  de  Bristol,  ha  siefce  ano 
que  cada  afio  an  armado  dos,  tres,  cuatro  caravelas  para  ir  a 
buscar  la  isla  de  Brasil  y  las  siete  ciudades  con  la  fantasia 
deste  Ginoves.  El  Rey  determino  de  enbiar  porque  el  afio 
passado  le  truxo  certenidad  que  h avian  hallado  tierra.  Del 
armada  que  hizo  que  fueron  cinco  naos  fueron  avitallados  por 
un  ano.  Ha  venido  nueva  la  una  en  que  iva  un  otro  Fai 
(  sic  pro  Fray  ?)  Buil  aporto  en  Irlanda  con  gran  tormento 
rotto  el  navio. 

"El  ginoves  tiro  su  camino.  Yo,  vista  la  derrota  que  llevan 
y  la  cantidad  del  camino  hallo  que  es  lo  que  han  hallado 
o  buscan  lo  que  Vuestras  Altezas  poseen,  porque  es  al  cabo 

*  Desimoni  suspects  that  vicinidaan  in  the  original  should  be  septe  citades, 
Intorno  a  Giovanni  Caboto,  Pref.  p.  15. 1  am  of  his  opinion. 


APPENDIX  NO.  17.  333 

que  a  Vuestras  Altezas  capo  por  la  convencion  con  Portugal. 
Sperase  seran  venidos  para  el  setiembre.  Hago  lo  sa- 
ber a  Vuestras  Altezas.  El  Key  de  Ynglaterra  me  ha  fablado 
algunas  vezes  sobre  ello.  Spero  aver  muy  gran  interesse* 

Creo  no  ay  quatro  cientos  leguas.  Yo  le  dixe,  creya  eran  las 
halladas  por  Vuestras  Altezas,  y  aun  le  dia  la  mia  razon  no  lo 
querria.  Porque  creo  V.  A.  ya  tendrau  aviso  de  todo  lo  y  asy- 
mismo  al  carta  o  mapa  mundi  que  este  ha  fecho,  yo  no  la 
enbio  agora,  que  aqui  la  ay,  y  a  mi  ver  bien  falsa  por  dar  a 
entender,  no  son  de  las  islas  dichas." 

(Simancas,  Estado.  Tradado  con  Inglaterra.  Legaio  2.) 


XVII. 

Accounts  of  Payments  to  Sebastian  Cabot  in  Spain. 

A.  En  6  Marzo  514  :  se  dan  a  Sebast.  Cabot  50  ducados  en 
cuenta  del  salario  que  se  le  ha  de  dar,  con  que  fuese  a  la  corte 
a  consultar  con  S.  A.  las  cosas  del  viaje  que  ha  de  llevar  a 
descubrir 18750. 

B.  Cedula  del  26  Marzo  1514.  Supone  recibido  Capitan  pa- 
ra las  cosas  de  mar  a  Sebast.  Caboto  Ingles  con  50,000  i  se 
manda  que  por  quanto  estav  a  aderezando  cosa  de  su  casa  i 
hacienda  para  venirze,  le  paguen  enteramente  el  salario  desde 
que  fue  recibido  hasta  que  vino  i  se  presento. 


*  It  is  thus  in  the  document  according  to  the  copy  which  Bergenroth 
(  Calendars,  vol.  i,  p.  176—177.  n.  210  )  obtained  from  the  Simancas  records, 
and  the  words  would  mean  "I  hope  for  a  very  great  profit,"  but  no  sense  can 
be  made  of  that.  Reumont  (  Archivio  Storico  Italiano,  t.  VI,  Anno  1880, 
p.  416),  to  make  sense,  joined  this  sentence  with  the  preceding,  and  explained 
it  thus  :  "I  write  these  details,  the  king  having  often  spoken  to  me  of  them, 
believing  that  your  Highnesses  would  feel  great  interest  in  them."  But  the  only 
change  needed  is  to  put  the  third  person  spera  for  the  first  spero.  In  the  text 
of  my  narrative  I  have  proved  that  Ayala's  letter  traced  after  Puebla's,  and 
the  latter  has  "espera  haver  muy  gran  interesse;"  that  is,  the  King  of  England 
has  several  times  spoken  to  me  about  it  and  "he  hopes  to  derive  great  profit 
from  it." 


334  APPENDIX  NO.   18. 

C.  En  7  April  se  le  libraron  13,637 h  mrs  a  complimiento  de 
76,637  1  de  su  quitacion  de  Capitan  deS  A.  desde  20  Octubre 
512  hasta  fin  de  April  514,  a  razon  de  50,000  por  ano,  En 
Londres  havia  recibido  de  D.  Luis  Carros  Embajador  44,250. 
En  11  may  se  le  libro  un  tercio  adelantado  de  su  salario  por 
estar  gastado  de  su  venida  de  Londres,  i  haver  enbiado  a  traer 
su  muger.  (Mss.  of  Murioz,  fol.  519.) 

1515 

D.  En  30  Agosto  a  Seb.  Caboto  Capitan  de  mar  40,267  h  mrs; 
por  Cedula  Real  para  que  se  le  pagase  el  salario  de  9.  meses 
i  20  dias  que  se  le  dejaron  de  pagar  el  ano  que  fue  recibido  a 
dicho  officio  con  salario  de  50,000,  Ademas  sin  I  desto  ano  : 
16,666. 

E.  Nombranse  este  aiio  Pilotos  de  S.  A  con  sueldo  Solis 
mayor — Seb.  Cabot — Andres  de  S  Martin — Iuan  Vespuche — 
Iuan  Serrano — Andres  Garcia  de  Nino — Francisco  Coto — 
Francisco  de  Torres  — Vasco  Gallego    (Munoz  MS.) 

1519 

Pilotos  de  Rei.  Mayo  6. 

F. — A  Andres  de  San  Martin,  Francisco  de  Soto,  Iuan  Ser- 
rano, a  cada  10,000  por  el  h  de  sus  salarios — a  Sebastian  Gabot, 
Capitan  e  Piloto  mayor,  25,000  por    i  de  su  salario. 

— A  Andres  Nino,  Vasco  Gallego,  Iuan  Rodriguez  de 
Mafra,  Estevan  Gomez,  Iuan  Vespuche,  Francisco  de  Torres, 
Pilotos  de  S.  A.  los  h  de  sus  salarios. 

[Cuenta  de  Dr.  Sanclio  de  Matrenzo,  Tesorero  de  la  Casa  de 
Sevilla,  515 — 19.  Munoz  M.S.] 


XVIII. 

Narrative  of  Peter  Martyr   of  Anc/hiera,  of  Sebastian    Cabot 's 
voyages  to  the  North. 

Scrutatus  est  eas  glaciales  oras  Sebastianus  quidam  Ca- 
botus  genere  Venetus,  sed  a  parentibus  in  Britanniam  in- 
sulam  tendentious  (uti  moris  est   Venetorum,  qui  commercii 


APPENDIX  NO.  18.  335 

causa  terrarum  omnium  sunt  hospites)  transportatus  peno 
infans.  Duo  is  sibi  navigia  propria  pecunia  in  Britannia 
ipsa  instruxit,  et  primo  tendens  cum  hominibus  tercentum 
ad  septentrionem,  donee  etiam  Julio  mense  vastas  repererit 
glaciales  moles  pelago  natantes,  et  lucem  fere  perpetuam, 
tellure  tamen  libera  gelu  liquefacto.  Quare  coactus  fuit, 
ut  ait,  vela  vertere  et  occidentem  sequi  :  tetenditque  tamen 
ad  meridiem,  littore  sese  incurvante,  et  Herculei  fretus 
latitudinis  fere  gradus  aequarit :  ad  occidentemque  profectus 
tantum  est,  ut  Cubam  insulam  a  leva  longitudine  graduum 
pene  parem  habuerit.  Is  ea  littora  percurrens,  quae  Bacal- 
laos  appellavit,  eosdem  se  reperisse  aquarum,  sed  lenes, 
delapsus  ad  occidentem,  ait,  quas  Castellani,  meridionales 

suas   regiones   adnavigantes,    inveniunt Bacallaos 

Cabottus  ipse  terras  illas  appellavit  eo  quod  in  eorum  pelago 
tantam  repererit  magnorum  quorumdam  piscium,  tinnos 
aemulantium  ;  sic  vocatorum  ab  indigenis,  multitudinem, 
ut  etiam  illi  navigia  interdum  retardarent.  Earum  regionum 
homines  pellibus  tantum  coopertos  reperiebat,  rationis  haud- 
quaquam  exspertes.  Ursorum  inesse  regionibus  copiam 
ingentem  refert,  qui  et  ipsi  piscibus  vescantur.  Inter  densa 
namque  piscium  illorum  agmina  sese  immergunt  ursi,  et 
singulos  singuli  complexos,  unguibusque  inter  squamas  im- 
missis'in  terram  raptant  et  comedunt.  Propterea  minime 
noxios  hominibus  ursos  esse  ait.  Oricalcum  in  plerisque  locis 
se  vidisse  apud  incolas  praedicat.  Familiarem  habeo  domi 
Cabotum  ipsum  et  contubernalem  interdum.  Vocatus  nam- 
que ex  Britannia  arege  nostro  Catholico  post  Henrici  majoris 
Britanniae  regis  mortem,  concurialis  noster  est  :  expectatque 
in  dies  ut  navigia  sibi  parentur,  quibus  arcanum  hoc  naturae 
latens  iam  tandem  detegatur.*  Martio  mense  anni  futuri 
MDXVI  puto  ad  explorandum  discessurum.  Quae  succedent 
tua  Sanctitasf  per  me  intelliget  modo  vivere  detur.    Ex  Cas- 


*Arcanum  hoc  naturae  latens,th;it  is,  the  strong  current  of  the  waters  of  the 
sea  towards  the  west,  as  the  writer  clearly  expressed  it  just  before,  and  not 
the  passage  to  the  north-west,  as  Tiraboschi  understands  it.— Placido  Zurla, 
Di  Marco  Polo,  cap.  ii,  p.  180. 

t  Tua  Sanctitas,  that  is,  the  supreme  Pontiff  of  Rome.,  to  whom  Peter 
Martyr  dedicated  his  Decades. 


336  APPENDIX  NO.  19. 

tellanis  non  desunt  qui  Cabotum  primum  fuisse  Baccalorum 
repertorem  negant,  tantumque  ad  Occidentem  tetendisse 
minime  assentiuntur. 

Petri  Martyris  ab  Angleria,  Be  Rebus  Oceanicis  et  Orbe  novo. 
Dec.  iii,  Jib.  vi.  For  the  first  three  decades  I  have  before  me 
the  edition  of  Giovanni  Bebelio,  Basel,  1533. — For  the 
remainder,  the  edition  of  Paris,  1587. 


XIX. 

Narrative  of  the   anonymous  author  in  Ramusio. 

Mi  par  convenevole  di  non  lassare  per  modo  alcuno,  che  io 
non  racconti  un  grade,  et  ammirabile  ragionamento,  che  io 
udi  questi  mesi  passati  insieme  col]'  excellente  Architetto  M. 
Michele  da  S.  Michele,  nelP  ameno  et  dilettevole  luogo  dell' 
eccellente  Messer  Hieronimo  Fracastoro  detto  Caphi,   posto 

nel  Veronese II  qual  ragionamento  non  mi  basta  l'animo 

di  poter  scrivere  cosi  particolarmente  com'  io  ud],  perche  vi 
saria  di  bisogno  altro  ingegno,  et  altra  memoria  che  non  e  la 
mia,  pur  mi  sforzero  sommariamente,  et  come  per  capi  di 
recitar  quel  che  mi  potro  ricordare.  In  questo  luogo  di  Caphi 
adunque  essendo  andati  a  visitar  detto  eccellente  messer 
Hieronimo,  lo  trovammo  accompagnato  con  un  gentiP 
huomo,  grandissimo  philosopho  et  mathematico,  che  allhora 
gli  mostrava  uno  instrumento  fatto  sopra  un  moto  de  cieli, 
trovato  di  nuovo,  il  nome  del  quale  per  suoi  rispetti  non  si 
dice,  et  avendo  tra  loro  disputato  lungamente  sopra  questo 
stesso  nuovo  moto,  per  ricrearsi  alquato  l'animo  fecero  portare 
una  balla  grande  molto  particolare  di  tutto  il  mondo,  sopra 
la  quale  questo  gentil'  huomo  comincio  a  parlare  dicendo.  .  . . 

Non  sapete  a  questo  proposito  d'  andare  a  trovar  1'  Indie 
pel  vento  di  maestro,  quel  che  fece  gia  un  vostro  cittadino 
Venetiano,  ch'  e  cosi  valente  et  practico  delle  cose  pertinenti 
alia  navigazione  et  alia  cosmographia,  ch'  in  Spagna  al  pre- 
sente  non  v'  e  un  suo  pari,  et  la  sua  virtu  T  ha  fatto  preporre 


APPENDIX  NO.  19.  337 

a  tutti  li  pilotti  che  navigano  alle  Indie  occidentali,  che  senza 
sua  licentia  non  possono  far  quell'  essercitio,  et  per  questo  lo 
chiamano  Pilotto  maggiore,  et  rispondendo  noi.  che  non  lo 
sapevamo,  continuo,  dicendo,  che  ritrovandosi  gia  alcuni  anni 
nella  citta,  di  Sivilia,  et  desiderando  di  saper  qlle  navigationi 
de  Castigliani,  gli  fu  detto,  che  v'  era  un  gra  valent'  huomo 
Venetiano  che  havea  '1  carico  di  quelle,  nominato  '1  Signor 
Sebastiano  Caboto,  il  qual  sapeva  far  carte  marine  di  sua 
mano,  et  intendeva  V  arte  del  navigare  piu  ch'  alcun  altro.  Su- 
bito  volsi  essere  col  detto,  et  lo  trovai  una  gentilissima  persona 
et  cortese,  chi  mi  fece  gran  carezze,  et  mostrommi  molte  cose, 
et  fra  Y  altre  un  Mapamondo  grande  colle  navigationi  parti- 
colari  si  di  Portoghesi,  come  di  Castigliani,  et  mi  disse  che  sen- 
dosi  partito  suo  padre  da  Venetia  gia  molti  anni,  et  andato  a 
stare  i  Inghilterra  a  far  mercantie  lo  menu  seco  nella  citta-  di 
Londra,  ch'  egli  era  assai  giovane,  non  gia  pero  che  non  avesse 
imparato  et  lettere  d'  humanita  et  la  sphera.  Mori  il  padre 
in  quel  tempo  che  venne  nova  che  '1  signor  Don  Christoforo  Co- 
lombo Genovese  havea  scoperta  la  costa  dell'  Indie,  e  se  ne 
parlava  grandemente  per  tutta  la  corte  del  Re  Henrico  VII, 
che  allhora  regnava,  dicendosi  che  era  stata  cosa  piuttosto  di- 
vina  che  humana  1'  haver  trovata  quella  via  mai  piu  saputa 
d'  andare  in  Oriente,  dove  nascono  le  Spetie.  Per  il  che  mi 
nacque  un  desiderio  grande,  anzi  un  ardor  nel  core  di  voler 
fare  anchora  io  qualche  cosa  segnalata,  et  sapendo  per  ra- 
gion  della  sphera,  che  s'  io  navigassi  per  via  del  vento  di  maes- 
tro, haverei  minor  cammino  a  trovar  Y  Indie,  subito  feci  in- 
tendere  questo  mio  pensiero  alia  Maesta  del  Re,  il  quale  fu 
molto  contento,  et  mi  armo  due  caravelle  di  tutto  cio  che  era 
di  bisogno,  et  fu  del  1496*  nel  principio  della  State,  et  comin- 
ciai  a  navigare  verso  maestro,  pensando  di  non  trovar  terra 
se  non  quella  dov'  e  il  Cataio,  et  di  la  poi  voltare  verso  le  In- 
die ;  ma  in  capo  di  alquanti  giorni  la  discopersi  che  correva 
verso  tramontana,  che  mi  fu  d'  infmito  dispiacere,  e  pur  an- 


*The  first  edition  of  1550,  also  at  Venice,  by  the  heirs  of  Lucantonio  Giunti, 
says  :  "mi  armo  due  caravelle  di  tutto  cio  che  era  di  bisocrno,  et  fu,  salvo  il 
pero,  del  1496."  p.  402. 

22 


338  APPENDIX  NO.   20. 

dando  dietro  la  costa  per  vedere  se  io  poteva  trovare  qualche 
golfo  che  voltasse,  non  vi  fu  mai  ordine,  che  andato  sino  a 
gradi  cinquantasei  sotto  il  nostro  polo,  vedendo  che  quivi  la 
costa  voltava  verso  levante,  disperato  di  trovarlo,  me  ne  tornai 
a  dietro  a  riconoscere  ancora  la  detta  costa  dalla  parte  verso  Y 
equinoziale  sempre  con  intenzione  di  trovar  passaggio  alle 
Indie,  e  venni  sino  a  quella  che  chiamano  al  presente  la  Flo- 
rida, et  mancandomi  gia  la  vettovaglia,  presi  partito  di  ritor- 
narmene  in  Inghilterra,  dove  giunto  trovai  grandissimi  tu- 
multi  di  popoli  sollevati  et  della  guerra  in  Scotia  :  ne  piu  era  in 
consideratione  alcuna  il  navigare  in  queste  parti,  per  il  che  me 
ne  venni  in  Spagna  al  Re  Catholico,  et  alia  Regina  Isabella,  i 
quali  avendo  inteso  cid  che  io  aveva  fatto,  mi  raccolsero,  et  mi 
diedero  buona  provisione,  facendomi  navigar  dietro  la  costa 
del  Brasil,  pei  volerla  scoprire,  sopra  la  qual  trovato  un  gros- 
sissimo  et  larghissimo  flume,  detto  al  presente  della  Plata,  lo 
volsi  navigare,  et  andai  all'  insu  per  quello  piu  di  secento  leghe 
trovandolo  sempre  bellissimo  et  habitato  da  infiniti  popoli,  che 
per  maraviglia  correvano  a  vedermi,  et  m  quello  sboccavano 
tanti  fiumi  che  non  si  potria  credere.  Feci  poi  molte  altre  navi- 
gation^ le  quali  preterm etto,  et  trovandomi  alia  fine  vecchio 
volsi  riposare  essendosi  allevati  tanti  pratichi,  et  valenti  ma- 
rinari  giovani,  et  hora  me  ne  sto  con  questo  carico  che  voi  sa- 
pete,  godendo  il  frutto  delle  mie  fatiche.  Questo  e  quanto  io 
intesi  dal  signer  Sebastianc  Caboto.  Ramusio,  Delle  Navi- 
gazioni  et  Viaggi,  Primo  Volume,  Ediz.  seconda.  Giunti,  1554. 
p.  414—415. 


XX. 

Transfer  of  Sebastian  Cabot's  pension  in  favor  of  his  wife. 

Cedula  de  Toledo  25  Octobre.  Por  quanto  Caboto  ha 
renunciado  en  Catalina  Medrano  su  muger  los  25,000  de 
su  ayuda  de  costa,  suplicando  que  como  el  los  tenia  por 
su  vida,  los  goce  ella  por  la  suya  della  :  por  que  si  Dios 
fuese    servido   quel    muriese    en    el   viaje    e    armada   que 


APPENDIX  NO.  21.  339 

agora  hace   por  nuestro  mandado  i  en  nuestro  servicio  al 
descubrimiento  de  las  islas  de  Tarsis  e  Oflr  e  al  Catayo  Orien- 
tal, tenga  su  muger  eso  para  mantenerse.     Asi  se  manda. 
(Mufioz  MS  ;  Indias,  1524—1526,  77.  Est,  23,  gr.  fol.  165). 


XXL 

Extract  from   the   history  of  Francisco  Lopez  de    Gomara  on 
Sebastiaji  CaboVs  Voyage  to  the  North-  West 

Qui  en  mas  noticia  traxo  desta  tierra  fue  Sebastian  Gaboto 
Veneciano.  El  qual  armo  dos  navios  en  Inglaterra  do 
tratava  desde  pequeno,  a  costa  del  Key  Enrique  Septimo,  que 
desseava  contratar  en  la  especiera  como  hazia  el  rey  de 
Portugal.  Otros  disen  que  a  su  costa,  y  que  prometio 
al  rey  Enrique  de  ir  por  el  norte  al  Catayo  y  traer 
de  alia  especias  en  menos  tiempo  que  Portugueses  por 
el  sur.  Yva  tambien  por  saber  que  tierra  eran  las  Indias  pa- 
ra poblar.  Llevo  trecientos  hombres  y  camino  la  buelta 
de  Islandia  sobre  cabo  del  Labrador,  hasta  se  poner  en 
cinquenta  y  ocho  grados.  Aunque  el  dize  mucho  mas  con- 
tando  como  avia  por  el  mes  de  julio  tanto  frio  y  pedals 
de  yelo  que  no  oso  passar  mas  adelante,  y  que  los  dias  eran 
grandissimos  y  quasi  sin  noche  y  las  noches  muy  claras.  Es 
cierte  que  a  sesenta  grados  son  los  dias  de  diez  y  ocho  horas. 
Diendo  pues  Gabota  la  frialdad  y  estraneza  de  la  tierra,  dio 
la  buelta  hazia  poniente  y  rehaziendose  en  los  Baccalaos  cor- 
rio  la  costa  hasta  treynta  y  ochos  grados  y  tornose  de  alii 
a  Inglaterra. 

Historia  General  de  las  Indias,  (^aragoca.  1552.  Part  I,  cap. 
De  los  Bacallaos. 


340  APPENDIX  NO.  23. 

\ 

XXII. 

Extract  from  the  Treatise  of  Antonio  Galvao  on  the  same  Voyage 

No  anno  de  1496  achandose  hum  Venezeano  por  nome 
Sebastiano  Gaboto  em  Inglaterra,  et  ouvindo  nova  de  tarn 
novo  descubrimento  como  este  era:  et  vendo  em  hum  a  poma 
como  estas  jlhas  acima  ditas  estano  quasi  em  hum  parallelo  et 
altura  et  muyto  mais  perto  de  sua  terra  huma  a  outra  que  de 
Portugal  nem  Castella,  o  amostron  a  el  Rey  dom  Annrique  o 
septimo  de  que  elle  ficou  tarn  satisfeito  que  mandou  logo 
armar  dous  navios,  partio  na  primavera  com  trezentos  com- 
panheiros,  fez  seu  caminho  a  Loeste  a  vista  do  terra,  et  quar- 
enta  et  cinco  graos  d'altura  da  parte  donorte,  forano  por  ella  ate 
sessenta  onde  os  diam  sam  de  dezoyto  horas,  et  as  noytes  muy 
claras  et  serenas.  A  via  aqui  muyta  frialdade  et  ilhas  de 
neve  que  nao  achavam  grandes  regelos,  do  que  tambem  se 
arreceavam.  E  como  daqui  por  dianta  tornasse  a  costa  ao 
levante,  fizeramose  na  outra  volta  ao  longo  descobrindo  toda 
a  baya,  rio,  enseada,  p'ra  ver  se  passava  da  outra  banda,  et 
foram  assi  diminuindo  n'  altura  ate  trinta  et  oyto  graos,  donde 
se  tornaram  a  Inglaterra.  Outros  querem  dized  que  chegasse  a 
ponta  da  Florida  que  esta  em  vinte  cinco  graos. 

Tratado  que  compos  o  nobre  e  notavel  capitano  Antonio  Galvao 

Lisboa,  Joham  de  Barriera,  1563. 


XXIII. 

Extract  from  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert's  Discourse. 

Forth ermore,  Sebastian  Cabota  by  his  personall  experience 
and  travell,  hath  set  foorth,  and  described  this  passage  in 
his  Charts  whiche  are  yet  to  be  seene,  in  the  Queenes 
Maiesties  privie  Gallerie,  at  Whiteall,  who  was  sent  to  make 
this  discoverie  by  King  Henrie  the  seaventh,  and  entered  the 


APPENDIX  NO.  24.  341 

same  fret  :  affirming,  that  he  sailed  very  far  westward,  with 
a  quarter  of  the  North,  on  the  north  side  of  Terra  de  Labrador 
the  eleventh  of  Iune,  until  he  came  to  the  septentrional  lati- 
tude of  67  h  degrees  and  finding  the  seas  still  open,  said,  that 
he  might,  and  would  have  gone  to  Cataia,  if  the  mutinie  of 
the  Maister  and  Mariners  had  not  ben. 

(/I  discourse  of  a  Discoverie  for  a  new  Passage  to  Cataia,  Lon- 
don, 1576,  in-4,  sign.  Diii). 


XXIV. 

Extract  from  the  Works  of  Andre  Thevet. 

Depuis  un  Venitien  entreprint  ce  voiage  sur  Y  authorite  d' 
Henry  septiesme  de  ce  nom  Roy  d'  Angleterre,  lequel  passa 
iusque  a  soixante  sept  degres. 

From  the  gran  Insidaire  et  Pilotage  d1  Andre  Thevet  Angou- 
moisin  Cosmographe  du  Roy.,  ms.  in  the  National  Library  at 
Paris,  French  portion.  N.  15.  452,  t.  I,  f.  143. 

Elle  hit  decouverte  primierement  par  Sebastian  Babate  (sic) 
Anglois  lequel  persuada  au  Roy  d'Angleterre  Henry  sep- 
tiesme qu'il  iroit  aisement  par  la  au  pais  de  Catay  vers  le 
Nort  et  par  ce  moyen  trouveroit  espiceries  et  autres  choses 
aussi  bien  que  le  Roy  de  Portugal  aux  Indes,  joint  qu'il  se 
proposoit  aller  au  Peru  et  Amerique  pour  peupler  le  pais  de 
nouveaus  habitans  et  dresser  la  une  Nouvelle  Angleterre,ce  que 
n'  executa  ;  vray  est  qu'il  mist  bien  trois  cens  hommes  en  terre 
du  coste  d'Irlande  au  Nort  ou  le  froid  fist  mourir  presque 
toute  sa  compagnie  encore  que  ce  fust  au  moys  de  Juillet. 
Depuis  Jaques  Quartier  [  ainsi  que  luy  mesme  m'a  recite]  fist 
deux  fois  le  voyage  en  ce  pays  la,  c'est  k  savoir  Fan  mil  cinq 
cens  trente  quatre  et  mil  cinq  cens  trente  cinq. 

Singularitez  de  la  France  Antarctique.  Paris,  1558,  in-4,  cap. 
LXXIV,  f.  148. 


342  APPENDIX  NO.  25. 


XXV. 

Letter  of  the  Council  of  Ten  to  Gaspar  Contarini,  Venetian  Ambas- 
sador to  Spain,  27  September,  1522. 

Oratori  nostro  apud  Caesar  earn  et  Cattolicam  Maiestatem. 

Zonze  l'altro  giorno  de  qui  uno  Don  hierolamo  di  Marin 
de  Bucignolo  Rhaguseo,  quale  venuto  alia  presentia  delli 
Capi  del  Consiglio  nostro  di  Dieci  Disse  esser  sta  mandato  per 
uno  Sebastian  Cabotto,  che  dice  esser  di  questa  citta  nostra,  et 
al  presente  habita  in  Sybilia,  dove  par  habbi  pro v vision 
da  quella  Cesarea  et  Cattolica  Maesta  per  suo  pedota  major 
in  le  navigation  del  discoprir  terre  nove.  Et  per  nome  di 
quello  referi  quanto  per  la  inserta  deposition  sua  vede- 
rete,  dalla  quale  ancorche  ne  appari  non  poter  prestare  molta 
fede,  pure  per  esser  de  la  importantia  le  non  havremmo 
dovuto  refiutare  la  oblation  ne  fa  epso  Sebastian  de  poter  venir 
de  qui  alia  presentia  nostra,  per  dichiarirne  quanto  li  va  per 
mente  in  la  materia  propostane.  Unde  siamo  sta  contenti  che 
el  ditto  Hierolamo  li  rescrivi  nel  modo  che  per  le  sueincluse 
vederete  ;  volemo  adunque  et  noi  detti  capi  del  Consiglio  nos- 
tro dei  Dieci  ne  commettemo,  che  cun  ogni  diligente  ma 
cauta  forma,  provriasi  di  intender  se  il  predetto  Sabastian 
fusse  in  quella  corte  aut  per  venirli  de  breve,  nel  qual  caso 
faciano  venirlo  ad  voi,  et  consignarli  dette  lettere  a  lui 
dirrective,  le  quali  per  ogni  bon  rispecto  haveriamo  fatto 
allegar  ad  altre  indriciate  al  fidelissimo  servitor  vostro, 
che  pur  staranno  in  le  present!.  Ne  in  lui  dimonstrarete  saper 
alcuna  cosa  di  tal  materia,  nisi  in  caso  che  el  se  scoprisse  cun 
voi,  nel  qual,  siamo  ben  contenti  li  dichiariate  el  tuto, 
cun  veder  de  sottrazer  quel  piu  potersi  del  sentimento  suo,  et 
quando  vedesse  el  si  movesse  cun  bon  fondamento,  et  sensi- 
bile,  lo  conforterete  ad  venir  di  qui,  perche  non  solum  siamo 
volenti  ch'  el  venga  sicuramente,  ma  lo  vederemo  molto 
volentieri.  Quando  autem  el  non  fusse  di  li  in  corte,  et  nunc 
per  venirle,  ma  si  ritrovasse  in  Sybilia,  darete  ogni  opera 
di  mandarli  tutte  lettere  per  via  che  siate  si  euro  le  gel  capitino 


APPENDIX  NO.   26.  343 

in  mano  propria.  Demostrando  a  quello  per  cui  le  rnandaste, 
che  vi  siano  sta  inviate  da  alcun  vostro  particolar  de  qui, 
et  di  ogni  sucesso  ne  darete  adviso  ad  detti  Capi  del  Con- 
siglio  nostro  di  Dieci.  Demum  havendo  nui  ricevuto  nova- 
mente  lettere  dal  capitano  general  de  5  dell'  instante  di 
Candia  cun  advisi  de  le  cose  da  Rhodi,  vi  mandiamo  juxta  il 
solito  li  summary,  accio  li  comunichiate  de  more  a  quella  Ce- 
sarea  et  Cattolica  Maesta  Magnifico  Gran  Cancellier,Reverendo 
Episcopo  de  Valenza,  et  altri  che  vi  apparerano. 

(  Lecta  universo  Collegio). 

Iuliano  Gradonico  C.  C.  *i* 

Andreus  Mudesco  C.  C.  4* 

Dominicus  Capelo  C.  C.  4* 

Le  ultime  che  habbiamo  da  voi  sono  di  14  del  presente  alle 
qual  non  dovrete  far  alcana  risposta.* 
(Capi  del  Consiglio  dei  X.  Lettere  Sottoscritte,  Filza  N.  5,1522). 


XXVI. 

Letter  of  Gaspar  Contarini  to  the  Senate  of  Venice,  31  December, 
1522.  {Lettere  al  Senato  1521-1525.  It  CI.  VII,  Cod.  MIX  della 
Biblioteca  Marciana  di  Venezia. —  Carte  281-283.) 

Serenissime  Princeps  et  Excellentissimi  Domini. 

La  terza  vigilia  di  natale  cum  la  debita  riverentia  mia  ricevi 
le  lettere  di  Vostra  Serenita  date  fino  adi  27  septembrio  per  le 
quali  quella  mi  significa  la  expositione  fatali  da  Hieronimo 
Ragusei  per  nome  di  Sebastian  Caboto  et  commettemi  che 
essendo  qui  a  la  Corte  io  li  debba  apresentar  quella  lettera  et 
facendomi  lui  moto  alcuno,  che  io  li  debba  aprir  il  tuto 
et  parendo  le  cose  proposte  da  lui  factibile  che  io  lo  exhorti  a 
venir  a  li  piedi  di  Vostra  Serenita.  Hor  per  dar  executione  a 


*Rawdon  Brown's  English  translation  has    "to  which  you  will  perhaps 
receive  no  farther  reply." 


344  Appendix  no.  26. 

prefate  lettere,  feci  dextramente  intender  se  costui  era  a 
la  Corte  et  inteso  chel  era  qui,  et  la  stantia  sua,  li  mandai  a 
dir  che  el  secretario  mio  li  haveva  da  dar  una  lettera  in- 
viatale  da  un  suo  amico  et  che  volendo  el  se  transfer] sse  alio 
allogiamento  mio. 

Costui  inteso  questo  rispose  a  quel  servitor  mio  che  el  ve- 
niria  et  cussi  la  vigilia  di  Natale  venne  al  hora  de  disnar.  Io 
ritiratomi  con  lui,  li  detti  la  lettera,  lui  la  lesse  et  legiendola 
si  mosse  tutto  di  colore.     Da  poij  letta,  stete  cussi  un  pocheto 
senza  dirmi  altro  quasi  sbigotito  et  dubio.     Alhora  io  li  dissi 
quando  che  el  volesse  risponder  a  dicte  lettere  over  farme 
intender  qualche  cosa  che  el  volesse  che  io  scrivesse  a  chi  me 
P  havea  inviata  che  io  era  prompto  a  farli  aver  bon  recapito. 
Lui  assecurato  alhora  me  disse.  Io  gia  parlai  a  lo  ambassator 
della   Illustrissima  Signoria  in  Ingelterra  *  per  la  affectione 
che  io  ho  a  la  patria  cum  queste  terre  novamente  trovate  de 
le  quale  io  ho  modo  di  dar  gran  utile  a  quella  terra,  et  hora 
di  questo  mi  vien  scripto,  come  dovete  saper  anchor  vuj,  ma 
vi  prego  quanto  posso  che  la  cosa  sij  secreta  perche  a  me  an- 
derebbe  la  vita.     Io  alhora  li  dissi    che  io  sapeva  il  tutto 
molto  bene  et  disseli  come  il  Raguseo  era  stato  al   Tribunal 
de  li  Exellentissimi  Signori    Capi  et  che  da  quel    Magistrato 
secretissimo  io  havea  habuto  adviso  del  tutto  et  che  per  lui 
mi  era  sta  inviata  quella  lettera,  ma  perche  havea  meco  a 
pranso  alcuni  gentilhuomini  che  non  era  comodo  che  in  quel 
hora  parlassemo  insieme,  ma  la  sera  al  tardo  ritornando  piu 
comodamente   ad   longum    ragionassemo    insieme,    et  cussi 
partito,  la  sera  ritorno  circa  ad   un  hora  di  nocte,  et  rechiusi 
soli  in  la  mia  camera  me  disse  :    Sign  or    Ambassator    per 
dirveiltuto  io  iiaqui  a  Yenetia  ma  sum  nudrito  in  Ingelterra 
et  poij^veni  al  servitio  di  questi  Re  Catholici  de  Hispania,  et 
dal  Re  Ferdinando  fui  facto   Capitano  cum  provisione  di   50 
m.  maravedis,  poij  fui   facto  da    questo    Re    presente    piloto 
major  cum  provisione  di  altri  50  m.  maravedis,  et  per  adiuto 
di  cose  mi  da  poij  25  m.  maravedis,  che  sono  in  tutto  125  m. 


*  Rawdon   Brown  remarks  that  he  hns  failed  to  find   any  trace  of  this 
conversation  of  Sebastian  Cabot  with  any  Venetian  Ambassador  in  England. 


APPENDIX  NO.  26.  345 

maravedis,  possono  valer  circa  ducati  300.  Hor  ritrovandomi 
ja  tre  anni,  salvo  il  vero,  in  Ingel terra,  quel  Reverendissimo 
Cardinal  mi  volea  far  grandi  partiti  die  ic  navigasse  cum  una 
sua  armada  per  discoprir  paesi  novi  la  quale  era  quasi  in 
ordine,  et  haveano  preparati  per  spender  in  essa  ducati  30  m. 
Io  li  risposi  che  essendo  al  servitio  di  questa  Maesta  senza 
sua  licentianon  lo  potevaservire  ma  che  havendo  bona  licentia 
di  qui  io  el  serviria.  In  quelli  giorni  ragionando  cum  uno 
frate  Stragliano  Collona  veneto  cum  il  quale  havea  ami- 
citia  grande,  mi  fu  dicto  dal  prefacto  frate :  Messer  Se- 
bastiano  vui  vi  afFaticati  cussi  grandemente  per  far  beneficio  a 
genti  externe  non  vi  aricordate  della  vostra  terra,  non  seria 
possibile  che  etiam  lei  havesse  qualche  utilitada  vuj.  Allhora 
io  mi  risenti  tutto  nel  core  et  li  risposi  che  penseria  sopra  cid. 
Et  cussi  ritornato  a  lui  il  giorno  seguente  li  dissi  che  io 
haveva  modo  di  far  quella  Citta  partecipe  di  questa  navi- 
gatione,  et  dimostrarli  via  per  la  quale  era  per  haver  grande 
utility  come  e  il  vero  che  io  V  ho  ritrovata  et  cussi  perche 
servendo  el  Re  d'  Angeltera  non  poteva  piu  beneficiar  la 
patria  mia,  io  scrissi  alia  Maesta  Cesarea  che  non  me  desse 
per  niente  licentia  che  servisse  il  Re  de  Engelterra  perche  li 
saria  de  ianno  grande,  immo  che  subito  me  rivocasse,  et 
cussi  rivocato  et  ritornato  essendo  in  sibilla  contraxi  grande 
amicitia  cum  questo  Raguseo,  il  quale  hora  mi  scrive, 
dicendomi  lui  che  el  dovea  transferirse  a  Venetia,  mi  slargai 
cum  lui  et  li  commissi  che  questa  cosa  non  la  dovesse 
manifestare  ad  altri  che  ali  Capi  di  X.  et  cussi  mi  juro 
Sacramento.  Io  li  respusi  prima  laudando  grandemente 
V  affecto  suo  verso  la  patria,  poij  li  dissi  chel  Raguseo  era 
stato  a  li  Excellentissimi  Signori  Capi,  et  che  10  da  quel 
Magistrato  havea  habuto  lettere  supra  questa  materia 
et  commissione  che  dovese  essere  cum  lui  et  intender  il 
modo  che  lui  se  havea  immaginato  et  significarlo  a  Sue 
Excellentissime  Signorie  et  che  poij  lui  potria  andarli 
in  persona.  Ma  rispose  che  lui  non  era  per  manifestar 
il  pensier  suo  ad  altri  che  a  li  Excellentissimi  Signori 
Capi,  et  chel  era  per  transferirse  a  Venetia,  richiesta  prima  li- 
centia da  Cesare  cum  questa  excusatione  di  la  ricuperatione  di 


346  APPENDIX  NO.  26. 

la  dote  di  sua  madre,  di  la  qual  cosa  se  faria  che  lo  episcopo 
di  Burgos  et  il  magnifico  Cancellier  me  parleriano  et  me  insta- 
riano  che  io  scrivesse  in  favor  suo  a  la  Serenita  Vostra.  Io  li 
dissi  che  volendo  venir  lui  a  Venetia  io  laudava  questo  modo 
che  il  mi  diceva  di  chieder  licentia  etc.  Quanto  poij  chel  non 
mi  volesse  manifestar  il  pensier  suo,  che  io  non  poteva  voler 
piu  di  quel  che  lui  volea,  ma  che  ben  mi  pareva  di  dirli  queste 
parole  et  cussi  dissi  che  in  ogni  deliberatione  bisognava  consi- 
derar  due  cose,  Y  una  era  se  quella  impresa  a  la  quale  1'  homo 
se  metteria  cum  utilita,  poij  sel  era  possibile,  et  che  questa  im- 
presa de  la  qual  ragionavano  io  era  certo  che  riuscendo  1'  havea 
esser  utile.  Ma  che  quanto  alia  possibility  io  era  molto  dubbio, 
perche  mi  havea  pur  dilectato  un  pocho  de  geographia,  et  con- 
siderando  il  sito  di  Venetia,  io  non  ritrovava  via  alcuna  a 
questa  navigatione  perche  el  bisognava  over  navigar  cum 
navilij  facti  a  Venetia  over  farli  far  for  di  stretto,  in  altro  loco  ; 
facendoli  a  Venetia  era  necessario  uscir  for  del  stretto  de 
Zibilterra  per  venire  nel  Oceano,  al  che  havendo  contrary  il 
Re  di  Portogallo  et  il  Re  di  Spagna  era  impossibile  che  la 
cosa  riuscisse.  Facendo  li  navilij  for  di  Venetia  non  se  pote- 
vano  far  se  non  a  la  volta  del  mar  oceano  de  mezogiorno,  ne 
altro  loco  era  se  non  il  mar  rosso,  al  che  ne  erano  infiniti  con- 
trary perche  prima  bisognava  haver  intelligentia  cum  el  sig. 
Turcho,  poij  li  per  la  penuria  de  li  legnami  era  impossibile  far 
navilij.  Poij  quando  ben  si  facesseno  essendo  le  fortezze  et 
armate  di  Portogallo,  non  era  possibile  continuar  quella  navi- 
gatione. Poij  chi  volea  fabricar  navili  qui  supra  V  oceano  sep- 
tentrionale  discorendo  da  la  Spagna  a  la  Datia  et  poij  piu  in 
la  anchora,  io  non  li  vedeva  modo,  maxime  essendo  la  Ger- 
mania  a  la  obedientia  del  Imperatore.  La  via  poij  di  condure 
merce  da  Venetia  a  quelli  navilij,  et  da  li  navilij  le  spesie  et 
altre  cose  a  Venetia,  io  non  li  vedeva  via  alcuna,  tuta  volta 
perche  essendo  lui  valenthuomo  in  questa  materia,  io  mi 
riportava  a  lui.  Me  rispose  vuj  avete  ben  discorso,  et  in 
verita  ne  cum  navilij  facti  a  Venetia  ne  etiam  per  la  via  del 
Mar  rosso  io  non  vedo  modo  alcuno.  Ma  ce  altra  via  non 
solum  possibile  ma  facile  et  di  far  navilij  et  de  condur  merce  da 
Venetia  al  porto,  et  dal  porto  a  Venetia  spetie,  oro  et  altre  cose 


APPENDIX  NO.  27.  347 

che  io  so  perche  io  ho  navigato  tutti  quelli  paesi  et  so  ben  il 
tuto,  immo  vi  dico  che  non  vulsi  tor  il  partido  de  il  Re  de 
Engelterra  per  beneficiar  la  patria,  perche  se  tolleva  quel 
partido  non  restava  poi  via  alcuna  per  Venetia.  Io  strinsi  le 
spalle  et  benche  a  me  la  cosa  pari  impossibile,  pur  non  volsi 
dissuaderlo  chel  venisse  a  li  piedi  di  Vostra  Celsitudine,  ne 
anche  el  suasi  perche  la  possibilita  e  molto  piu  ampla  de  quel 
che  1'  homo  spesse  hate  crede.  Costui  poij  qui  ha  grande  fama, 
et  cussi  alhora  se  parti.  II  giorno  poij  di  San  Zuane  la  sera 
vene  a  trovarme  per  far  riconzar  alcune  parole  in  le  letere  del 
Raguseo,  delle  qual  dubitava  che  costoro  non  prendesseno 
suspecto,  et  cussi  da  uno  nostro  Veronese  mio  intrinseco  fu 
rescripta  et  riformata  la  lettera.  Lui  ragionando  cum  me  de 
molte  cose  di  geographia  fra  le  altre  me  disse  uno  modo  che 
1'havea  observato  per  la  via  del  bossolo  di  conosser  la  distantia 
fra  due  lochi  da  levante  al  ponente,  molto  bello  ne  mai  piu 
observato  da  altri,  come  da  lui  venendo  Vostra  Serenita  potra 
intender.  Poij  ragionando  pur  cum  lui  circa  la  materia  prin- 
cipal nostra  et  dextramente  ripetendoli  io  le  dimculta,  me 
disse  et  io  vi  dico  che  la  via  et  il  modo  e  facile.  Andero  a 
Venetia  a  mie  spese,  me  udirano  ne  piacendoli  el  modo  per 
me  excogitato,  io  mi  ritornero  pur  a  mie  spese,  et  fecemi  in- 
stantia  che  io  tenesse  la  cosa  secreta.  Questa  e  stata  la  execu- 
tione  che  io  ho  facto.  Vostra  Serenita  la  udira,  et  cum  la 
sapientia  sua  fara  quel  iuditio  che  li  parera. 
Vallijoleti,  Die  ultimo  Decembris,  1522. 


XXVII. 

Another   letter    of    Gaspar  Gontarini    to  the    Senate  of    Venice, 

7    March,  1523. 

(Carte  289  tergo.  Lettere  Contarini  citate). 

Serenlssime  Princeps  et  Excellentissimi  Domini. 

Quel  Sebastian  Cabot  del  quale  vostre  Excellence  me  impose 
a  parlarli  circa  le  cose  de  le  spiziarie  et  da  me  cussi  exeguito 
conio  per  mie  di  x.  zener  li  significai,  e  stato  piu  volte  da  poij 


348  APPENDIX  NO.   28. 

ad  me  sempre  facendomi  intender  la  disposition  sua  esser  di 
venir  exeguir  quanto  l'havria  in  animo  di  operar  per  Vostra 
Celsitudine  in  tal  materia  de  specie.  Tandem  liozi  venuto  ad 
trovarmi,  se  ha  risolto  non  poter  per  hora  dimandare  licentia 
dubitando  che  non  lo  tolesseno  per  suspecto  che  el  volesse  an- 
dare  in  Engelterra,  et  che  pero  li  era  necessario  anchor  per  tre 
mesi  scorer,  qual  passati  al  tuto  era  per  venir  a  li  piedi 
di  Vostra  Illustrissima  Signoria,  pregandola  che  interim  la 
vogli  scriver  una  lettera  in  la  forma  de  V  altra  li  fu  mandata 
et  solicitarlo  a  venir  de  li  a  Venetia  per  expedir  le  cose  sue  a 
cio  monstrandola,  de  qui  li  fusse  piu  liberamente  concesso  li- 
centia. Scrivo  a  Vostra  Celsitudine  quanto  che  lui  Sebastiano 
mi  ha  dichiarito  et  ricercato,  quella  disponent  quanto  li  pia- 
cera. 

Vallijoleti  Die  7  Martij  1523. 


XXVIII. 

Letter  of  the  Council  of  Ten  to  Gaspar  Contarini. 

(Brown  N.  669  Vol.  Ill) 

28  Aprile  1523. 
Ser  Casparo  Contareno 

Oratori  nostro  apud  Cesaream  Maiestatem. 

Ricevessimo  in  questi  giorni  passati  le  vostre  direttive  a  li 
Capi  del  Consiglio  nostro  dei  Died,  de  ultimo  Dicembre  pros- 
simo  preterito,  per  le  quali  intendessemo  tutto  il  colloquio 
havuto  cum  Sebastiano  Cabotto  ne  la  materia  de  le  specie, 
nel  che  in  vero  cum  summa  prudentia,  et  bon  modo  vi  sete 
governato,  et  non  potemo,  se  non  grandemente  commendare 
il  studio  et  diligenza  vostra.  Dapoi  habiamo  riceputo  altre 
vostre  de  7  Marzo  preterito,  per  le  qual  vedemo  la  risolu- 
tione  in  ch'era  rimasto  esso  Sebastiano,  de  non  poter  venir 
qui  fino  a  tre  mesi  ;  et  che  poi  al  tuto  Fera  per  vinir,  rechie- 
dendo  chel  se  li  faci  de  qui  scriver  una  lettera  in  la  forma 


APPENDIX  NO.  29.  34(j 

delle  precedenti  per  le  cose  sue,  acio  che  cum  quella  al  tempo 
predicto  possi  licitamente  partirsi  de  li.  Unde  per  satisfactione 
sua  habiamo  fatto  far  una  altra  lettera  in  nome  di  quello 
Hieronymo  de  Marino  da  Rhagusi,  che  qui  vene  ad  fame  la 
relatione  di  tal  cose  et  mandovela  qui  inserta  nel  mazzo  del 
Circunspecto  Secretario  vostro,  si  come  fu  facto  delle  prece- 
denti, la  qual  consignarete  al  dito  Caboto  semotis  arbitris,  sua- 
dendolo  che  el  se  ne  vengi  qui,  si  come  el  vi  ha  promesso  de 
far,  perche  sempre  el  sara  ben  veduto  da  noi  :  et  cusi  esegui- 
rete  dandone  adviso  a  li  capi  antedicti,  et  se  al  zonzer  de 
queste  il  prefacto  Cabotto  non  se  retrovasse  de  li  in  Corte, 
mandereteli  la  lettera  sua  dove  el  se  ritrovera.  Tutta  via  per 
mezo  lido  et  securo  si  che  la  ge  capiti  in  raano  ;  denotandovi 
che  il  dito  Hieronimo  Marino  al  presente  non  se  retrova 
qui  in  Venezia,  ne  sapemo  dove  el  sii,  ancor  che  le  lettere  de 
esso  Hieronimo  apparino  date  qui  in  Venezia.  II  che  dicemo 
per  vostra  instructione. 

Andreas  Foscarenus  C.  C.  Xm 
Jacobus  Michael  C.  C.  Xm  subscrip. 
Andreas  Fosculus  C.  C.  Xm  subscrip. 
Lecta  Dominis  Sapientibus  utriusque  manus  semotis  ce- 
teris et  etiam  Dominis  Consiliariis. 

Lecta  Dominis  Capitibus. 


XXIX. 

Feigned  letter  of  Jerome  the  Ragusan  to  Sebastian  Cabot 

Litterae  scriptae  nomine  Hieronymi  di  Marino  Rhagusei  ad  Sebas- 
tianum  Caboto  in  Hispaniam  existentem. 

Spectabile  Messer  Sebastiano. — Za  alcuni  mesi  zonto  che  iu 
fui  qui  in  Venetia  vi  scrissi  quanto  haveva  operato  per  in- 
quirir  dove  si  trovano  de  li  beni  vostri,  nel  che  io  hebbi  bone 
parolle  in  cadauno  loco,  et  mi  fu  dato  bona  speranza  de  re- 
cuperar  la  dote  di  vostra  madre,  et  ameda,  unde  non  dubito 


350  APPENDIX  NO.  30. 

che  si  vui  fosti  venuto  qui  haveresti  za  conseguito  quanto  e 
il  vostro  desiderio  ;  et  per  tanto  per  lo  amor  vi  porto,  et 
per  il  beneficio,  et  utile  ve  sio  exhortar  ad  non  vi  manchar  a 
vui  medesimo,  ma  transferirve  qui  a  Venetia,  dove  non  du- 
bitoimpetrarete  il  tutto,  et  non  tarderete  ad  venir  qui,  perche 
la  ameda  vostra  e  molto  vecchia,  et  mancando  lei,  haveresti 
poi  grandissma  fatica  a  inquirir  et  recuperar  il  vostro  ;  pero 
ve  conforto  ad  mettervi  in  camino  piu  presto  potete.  Altro 
non  vi  dico  per  hora  a  vui  mi  offro  per  sernpre. 
Venetiis  Die  28  Aprilis  1523 

Vostro  hieronimo  de  Marino 
(Capi  del  Consiglio  de'  Dieci.  Lettere  sottoscritte.  Filza  N. 
6. 1523). 


XXX. 

Letter  of  Gaspar  Contarini  to  the  Senate  oj  Venice,  26  July,  1523. 

Serenissime  Princeps  et  excellentissimi  Domini. 

Cum  la  posta  venuta  de  Italia  per  qui,  come  in  le  comune 
facio  mentione  per  via  da  Roma,  ricevi  cum  la  solita  riveren- 
tia  mia  lettere  sue  de  23  April  per  le  qual  Vostra  Serenita  dan- 
dome  adviso  dil  ricever  de  le  mie  scripteli  circa  la  executions 
facta  cum  Sebastiano  Caboto  etc. ,  me  subgionge  che  iterum  la, 
invia  altre  lettere  a  lui  Sebastiano  a  nome  di  quel  Hieronimo  de 
Ragusi  iuxta  la  nchiesta  sua  et  cussi  ho  ritrovato  in  le  pub- 
liche  esse  lettere.  La  bona  sorte  volse,  che  essendo  lui  Se- 
bastiano in  Sibilia  due  giorni  da  poii  il  ricevir  de  le  lettere, 
ritorno  de  qui  al  qual  consignato  le  sue  lo  exortai  a  venirsene 
de  li.  Disseme  che  in  altro  non  era  il  pensier  suo  et  a  questo 
fine  era  venuto  de  qui.  Da  poij  mi  ha  parlato  dicendo  chel 
procura  cum  questi  del  Consiglio  Cesareo  di  haver  li  centra  di 
conferirse  de  li,  et  che  etiam  parlino  a  me  in  commendatione 
sua.  Questo  e  quanto  ho  da  lui,  de  quanto  seguira  Vostra 
Serenita  nc  sara  advisata. 

Vallijoleti  Die  26  Julij  1523. 
(Carte  302,  Lett.  Contarini  cit.) 


APPENDIX  NO.  32.  351 


XXXL 

Payment  to  Sebastian  Cabot  for  the  account  of  Sir  Thomas  Lovell,  18 

February,  1524. 

Item  paide  the  XVIIIth  day  of  feb.  to  John  Goderik  of  Tory 
in  the  countie  of  Cornewall  drap  in  full  satysfacon  and  recom- 
penses of  his  charge  costis  and  labour  conductyng  of  Sebastian 
Cabott  master  of  the  Pylotes  in  Spayne  to  London  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  testator  by  Indenture  of  covenantes. —   43s.    4d. 

[Expenses  of  the  funeral  of  sir  Thos.  Lovell,  Knt.  of  the 
garter,  who  died  at  his  manor  of  Elsynges,  in  Endfield,  Mid- 
dlesex^ May  1524,  paid  by  his  executors.  I.  S.  Brewer.— 
Calendar  Domestic  and  Foreign,  Henry  VIII.  t.  IV,  Part.  I, 
p.  154,  N.°  366. 


XXXII. 


Dispatches  of  Andrew  Navagero,  Ambassador  to  the  Court  of  Spain 
of  July  21, 1524—28  October.—  207.  Cod.  Cicogna  1985. 

Un  altra  armata  di  28  vele  pur  per  1'  Indie  ma  in 

altra  parte  e  in  ordine  in  Siviglia  et  partira  si  come  dicono  fra 
15  o  20  di  della  qual  e  Capitano  un  Sebastian  Cabbotto  Vene- 
tiano,  costui  va  per  scoprir  cose  nove  et  ogni  giorno  di  qua 
fan  maggior  le  speranze  di  queste  Indie,  et  piu  ii  mettono 
l'animo  et  credono  all'  ultimo  haver  anco  le  speranze  per 
quellabanda  et  con  viaggio  molto  piu  breve  di  quel  che  fece 
la  nave  Vittoria. — Gratie  etc.  etc. 

In  Tolledo   alii    21  di   Settembre    1525.— p.  221,  222. 

A  bit  of  narrative  at  p.  933  Cod.  Cicogna    1985. 

delle  nave  spagnole  ch'io  intesi  in  Franza  ch'erano  arri- 

vate  all'  isole  di  Brasil  carghe  de  speciarie  che  potrian  esser  di 
quelle  che  partirondi  Siviglia  con  Sebastian  Cabotto  Vene- 
tiano. 


352  APPENDIX  NO.  33. 


XXXIII. 

Extract  from  the  Decades  of  Peter  Martyr  oV  Anghiera  on  the  pro- 
posed voyage  of  Sebastian  Cabot  to  the  East  Indies  on  Spain's  ac- 
count (1524). 

Speramus  fore  ut  Sebastianus  Cabotus  Baccalorum  repertor, 
cui  circiter  Kal.  Septembris  supplicanti,  ex  nostri  Senatus 
auctoritate  permissa  est  ejus  navigationis  perquirendae  potes- 
tas?  breviore  tempore  ac  felicioribus  avibus  sit  rediturus,  quam 
Victoria  navis.  .  .  .  Quatuor  navium  classiculam,  omnibus  ad 
rem  maritimam  facientibus  et  commodis  tormentorum  vasis 
paratam,  ab  Caesareo  aerario  Cabotus  poposcit,  socios  ait  se 
reperisse  Hispali,  quae  Sebilla  dicitur,  commerciorum  omnium 
Jndicorum  emporio,  qui  sub  spe  magni  lucri,  ad  classiculae 
commeatum  et  caetera  necessaria,  ducatorum  decern  millium 
sua  sponte  summam  obtulerint.  Ad  ofFerendam  participum 
sociorum  obligationem  circiter  idus  Septembris  a  nobis  dim- 
issus  est  Cabotus.  .  . 

Est  Cabotus  Augusto  mense  proximo  anni  MDXXV  disces- 
surus,  nee  citius  quidem,  quia  nee  prius  queunt  ad  rem  tantam 
necessaria  parari,  nee  per  coelorum  cursus  debet  prius  illud 
iter  inchoari  :  oportet  quippe  tunc  versus  aequinoctium  vela 
dirigere  quando  sol  aestatem  nobis  et  dierum  longitudinem 
ablaturus,  ad  Antictones  penetrare  incipiat  ....  Quo  tempore 
brevissimi  sunt  apud  populos  Arctoos  dies,  longissimos  Cabo- 
tus assequetur.  Commode  propterea  littora  percurret  ilia 
donee  flexuoso  Magagliano  freto.  .  .  .  traiecto,  in  dextram  a 
tergo  nostri  putati  continentis. .  .  .proras  diriget,  perque  Capri  - 
corni  zonam  ad  aequatorem  regredietur,  in  quo  spacio  insu- 
larum  numerum  reperiet  innumerum,  sitarum  in  ea  pelagi  vas- 
titate  :  benevole  namque  agendum  est,  ac  sine  vi  aut  injuria 
ulla  tractandum,  et  blanditiis  muneribusque  allicientur.  De- 
cern namque  ducatorum  millia  quae  Cabotus  a  sociis  est  ha- 
biturus  ad  id  negocii  sunt  oxpendendaut  commeatus  ad  bien- 
nium  comparentur,  et  stipendia  viris  centum  quinquaginta 
praebeantur,  reliqua  pars  m  mercimoniis  quae  grata  msulari- 


APPENDIX  NO.  34.  353 

bus  fore  cognoverint ....  His  pelustratis  et  prudenti  diligen- 
tia  pertractatis,  nostri  putati  continents  latus  australe  uni- 
versum  abradent. 

Dec.  VII,  cap.  6,  p.  797— Parisiis,  MDLXXXVIL 


XXXIV. 


Abstract  of  the  Probanda  of  Catharine  Vasquez  in  her  suit 
against  Sebastian  Cabot* 

I  Interrogatory.  Whether  the  witnesses  know  the  parties 
concerned  in  the  suit. 

Answer.  Yes. 

II  Int.  Whether  they  know  of  the  expedition  led  by  Sebas- 
tian Cabot. 

Ans.  Yes. 

Here  follow  the  witnesses'  names  and  surnames  num- 
bered in  order.  Thereafter  they  are  spoken  of  by  their  num- 
bers as  First,  Second,  etc. 

III  Int.  Whether  Martin  Mendez  was  appointed  Lieuten- 
ant-General  in  the  command  of  the  expedition. 

Ans.  Yes 

IV  Int.  Whether  they  know  that,  before  his  appointment,  Se- 
bastian Cabot,  at  his  wife's  suggestion,  had  determined  to  give 
that  position  to  Michael  Rojas. 

None  of  the  witnesses  can  answer. 

V  Int.  Whether  they  know  that,  upon  the  appointment  of 
Martin  Mendez,  Cabot,  his  wife,  and  Rifos  conceived  a  violent 
enmity  towards  him;  whether  Medrano  tried  even  to  have 
him  killed  ;  whether  Cabot  was  ruled  by  the  advice  and  wishes 
of  his  wife. 

Ans.     The  i  witness  answers  the  three  questions  in  the  af- 


*  In  this  and  the  following  abstracts,  scrupulous  attention  has  been  paid  to 
rendering  the  sense  of  the  text  as  exactly  as  possible. 

23 


354  *  APPENDIX  NO.  34. 

firmative.  The  vi  affirmatively  to  the  first  :  has  no  knowl- 
edge as  to  the  other  two. 

The  vii  affirmatively  to  the  first  on  the  credit  of  others; 
is  silent  on  the  second  ;  the  third  is  true  in  his  opinion. 

The  ix  and  xi  are  of  the  affirmative  opinion  as  to  the 
third,  silent  as  to  the  other  two. 

VI  Int.  Whether  Martin  Mendez,  just  as  the  expedition 
was  about  to  sail,  perceiving  Cabot's  ill-will  towards  him, 
took  his  things  and  left  the  ship  and  went  to  Seville  to  com- 
plain to  the  Council  of  the  Indies. 

Ans.  The  i  witness  saw  Mendez  go  away,  and  heard  that 
he  went  to  complain  to  the  Council  of  the  Indies,  and  that  the 
Council  encouraged  him  to  return  to  his  post. 

The  ix  deposes  the  same. 

The  xi  saw  him  go,  but  does  not  know  why  he  went. 

VII  Int.  Whether  the  Council  of  the  Indies,  summoning 
Cabot  and  Rifos,  severely  reproved  them,  and  threatened  the 
latter  if  he  interfered  in  the  duties  belonging  to  the  Lieuten- 
ant-General. 

Ans.    The  vi  and  ix  affirm  it,  but  on  the  report  of  others. 

VIII  Int.  Whether  Martin  Mendez  returned  to  embark 
upon  the  urging  and  promises  of  the  President  of  the  Coun- 
cil. 

Ans.  The  vi  witness  believes  it  must  have  been  so,  because 
Mendez  had  been  at  the  Moluccas  before,  and  the  merchants 
had  manifested  their  confidence  in  him. 

The  ix  says  so  from  hearsay. 

IX  Int.  Whether  as  soon  as  Cabot  sailed  he  set  Mendez 
wholly  aside,  and  entrusted  Rifos  with  all  that  belonged 
to  the  Lieutenant. 

Ans.  The  five  witnesses  called  all  confirm  this  more  or  less 
fully. 

X  Int.  Whether  Sebastian  Cabot  arrested  Mendez  without 
just  cause. 

Ans.  The  i  and  xi  confirm  it  fully. 

The  iii  and  viii  know  of  the  arrest,  but  cannot  say  whether 
there  was  just  cause  for  it  or  not. 

The  vi  and  vii  know  of  the  arrest,  but  as  to  its  justice  they 


APPENDIX  NO.  U.  355 

confine  themselves  to  saying  that  they  saw  him  do  nothing 
that  deserved  it. 

XI  Int.  Whether  Martin  Mendez,  when  arrested  insisted  on 
a  trial  ;  whether  Cabot  made  any  reply  to  his  demand. 

Ans.  The  i  confirms  it  of  his  own  knowledge. 

The  ii  from  hearsay. 

The  vi  confirms  it,  adding  on  hearsay  that  Cabot  resented 
the  demand. 

The  vii,  ix,  and  x  confirm  the  first  part  ;  are  silent  or 
know  nothing  of  the  second. 

XII  Int.  Whether  Mendez  posted  his  demand  for  a  trial  on 
the  ship's  mast,  so  that  all  should  know  of  it. 

Ans.  Five  witnesses  were  called  and  all  answer  affirmatively. 

XIII  Int.  Whether  Captain  Caro  presented  Mendez's  de- 
mand to  Cabot,  and  Cabot  answered  with  bad  words. 

Ans.  The  i  has  heard  say  so. 

The   ii  knows  of  the  presenting,  but  not  of  the  answer. 
The  vi  knows  of  the  presenting,  it  seems  to  him  ;    but  does 
not  well  remember  the  fact  of  the  answer. 

XIV  Int.  Whether  Martin  Mendez  made  a  protest  before  the 
officers  both  of  his  demand  and  for  damages  arising  out  of  his 
arrest. 

The  i  and  vi  confirm  it  fully. 

The  ii  heard  the  protest  spoken  of,  but  knew  not  its  contents. 

The  ix  confirms  it  on  hearsay. 

The  x  does  not  remember,  but  it  seems  so  to  him. 

XV  Int.  Whether  the  officers  informed  Cabot  of  the  protest, 
and  he  replied  with  bad  words. 

Ans.  The  ii  confirms  the  first  part  on  hearsay  ;  varies  the 
second  saying  he  had  heard  that  Cabot  promised  a  trial  when 
they  came  to  the  River  De  Solis. 

The  vi  confirms  it  fully,  adding  that  he  and  other  officers 
tried  to  put  in  a  word  in  favor  of  Mendez. 

XVI  Int.  About  the  deposing  of  Mendez  and  Rojas  at  the 
Island  of  Saint  Catharine,  and  whether  the  island  is  only 
peopled  by  Indians. 

Ans.  The  vi  saw  the  prisoners  delivered  to  an  Indian,  and 
knows  no  more. 


356  APPENDIX  NO.  34. 

The  ix  knows  by  what  others  said  that  the  prisoners  were 
recommended  to  an  Indian. 

XVIII  Int.  Whether  it  is  true  that  Mendez,  when  they 
were  taking  him  ashore,  protested  that  Cabot  deposed  him  for 
a  report  he  was  preparing  against  him  for  the  Emperor  ;  and 
whether  he  was  deposed  in  order  that  Rifos  might  have  the 
post  of  Lieutenant. 

Ans.  The  i  confirms  Rifos's  appointment ;  that  is  all  he 
knows. 

The  ii  confirms  the  appointment  of  Rifos  ;  as  to  the  rest, 
says  he  had  heard  that  Mendez  complained  that  Cabot  had 
seized  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  the  Emperor. 

The  x  confirms  it. 

XIX  Int.  Whether  at  the  Isle  of  Patos  Mendez  wrote  a  let- 
ter to  the  Emperor  against  Cabot,  and  it  was  seized. 

No  answer. 

XX  Int.  Whether  Mendez  had  often  warned  Cabot  that  he 
was  not  taking  the  course  for  the  Moluccas,  and  that  His  Ma- 
jesty would  take  offence. 

No  answer. 

XXI  Int.  Whether  on  their  return  many  urged  Cabot 
to  land  at  Saint  Catharine  to  take  the  prisoners  on  board,  and 
he  Refused. 

No  answer. 

XXII  Int.  Whether  Mendez  and  Rodas  died  on  that 
island  in  consequence  of  their  abandonment. 

Ans.  The  i  answers  Yes,  because  they  were  drowned 
in  trying  to  escape  from  the  island,  and  they  would  not 
have    tried  to    escape   if  Cabot    had  not    left   them  there. 

The  other  witnesses,  the  vi,  vii,  viii,  ix,  x,  and  xi  depose  to 
the  fact  of  the  death,  but  are  silent  on  the  rest. 

XXIII  Int.  On  the  value  of  the  things  belonging  to  Mar- 
tin Mendez  which  he  had  on  board,  and  whether  Cabot  took 
possession  of  every  thing. 

Ans.  The  vi,  vii,  viii,  and  x  know  of  the  things  brought 
on  board,  but  nothing  else. 

The  ix  knows  of  the  things  brought  on  board,  but  cannot 
tell  their  value  :  has  heard  tell  the  third  point. 


APPENDIX  NO.  34,  357 

The  x  and  xi  saw  that  there  were  many  things  brought  on 
board,  but  know  no  more. 

XXIV  Int.  Of  Martin  Mendez's  emoluments. 

Ans.  The  answer  of  the  witnesses  is  given  in  general,  what 
they  have  heard. 

XXV  Int.  How  old  Mendez  was  when  set  ashore  on  the 
island. 

Ans.  All  the  witnesses  answer  giving  their  opinion  from 
his  looks. 

XXVI  Int.  Let  the  witnesses  declare  whether,  if  Mendez 
had  lived  and  kept  his  office  of  Lieutenant,  the  expedition 
would  have  continued  on  its  voyage,  and  not  have  lost  so 
many  men. 

Ans.  The  i,  vii,  and  ix  say  yes. 

The  vi  says  he  cannot,  because  there  were  other  officers  on 
the  expedition  with  as  much  authority,  and  they  were  unable 
to  prevent  what  happened. 

The  viii  can  only  say  they  would  have  done  much  better 
if  they  had  gone  to  the  Moluccas. 

XXVII  Int.  Two  sums  are  proposed,  and  the  witnesses 
are  asked  if  they  believe  that  if  they  had  reached  the 
Moluccas  the  Emperor  would  have  gained  the  first  and  Mar- 
tin Mendez  the  second. 

Ans.  The  ii,  vii,  ix,  x,  and  xi  recognize  that  much  would 
have  been  gained,  but  cannot  say  ho  w  much. 

The  vi  speaks  of  the  dangers  of  the  navigation,  that  the 
result  is  in  God's  hands.  But  granted  that  they  reached  the 
Moluccas,  the  Emperor  and  Mendez  would  have  gained  much. 

XXVIII  Int.  As  to  the  value  of  the  things  brought 
aboard  belonging  to  Martin's  brother  Ferdinand  Mendez,  and 
whether  Cabot  took  possession  of  all. 

Ans.  The  i  confirms  it. 

The  vi,  vii,  viii,  ix  and  xi  know  that  they  were  many,  but 
cannot  tell  their  value  ;  they  know  nothing  of  the  second  part. 

XXIX  fnt.  Whether  Catharine  Vasquez  is  the  mother  of 
Martin  Mendez. 

Ans.  Yes. 

XXX  Int.  is  spoilt.      But  it  is  understood  to  ask  about  the 


358  APPENDIX  NO.  35. 

death  of  Ferdinand  Mendez,  Martin's  brother,  whether  it  was 
caused  by  his  brother's  imprisonment. 

Ans.  The  i  cannot  say  of  his  own  knowledge,  but  has 
heard  it  spoken  of  as  something  certain. 

The  ix  knows  of  the  death,  but  not  the  cause  of  it. 

XXXI  Int.  Whether  Cabot  tried  to  poison  Ferdinand 
Mendez. 

No  answer. 

XXXII  Int.  On  the  same  subject,  whether  at  least  the 
fleet  spoke  of  such  poisoning. 

No  answer. 


xxxv. 


Interrogatories  presented  by  Francis  de  Rojas  at  Ooana,  November 

%  1530. 

I  Int.  Whether  the  witnesses  know  Captain  de  Rojas  and 
Sebastian  Cabot  ;  and  know  of  the  expedition  whicli 
sailed  under  command  of  the  latter  towards  the  Moluccas. 

II  Int.  Whether  they  know  that  Rojas  is  of  a  noble 
family  and  of  known  worth,  and  Cabot  is  a  foreigner,  an  un- 
known person,  unfit  for  the  command  of  a  fleet,  or  any  other 
office,  etc. 

III  Int.  Whether  those  who  fitted  out  the  fleet  discover- 
ing Cabot's  incompetency,  wanted  to  appoint  Rojas  to  the 
post  of  Captain  of  the  expedition,  and  that  this  was  the  cause 
of  Cabot's  hatred  of  him. 

IV  Int.  Whether  the  main  object  of  the  expedition  was  to 
reach  the  Islands  of  Ophir  and  Tarshish,  etc. 

V  Int.  Whether  when  Cabot  was  bound  to  give  the  course 
of  the  voyage  at  the  Canaries  according  to  the  Emperor's  or- 
ders, and  did  not  give  it,  Rojas  persistently  demanded  it,  and 
Cabot  refused,  adding  disrespectful  words  about  the  Emperor. 

VI  Int.  Whether  Cabot  at  the  Island  of  Palma  seized  the  let- 
ters of  many  who  were  writing  to  the  Emperor  against  him, 


APPENDIX  NO.  35.  359 

and  did  the  same  again  at  Pernambuco  and  on  the  Parana, 
and  from  this  conceived  a  bitter  hatred  for  Rojas. 

VII  Int.  Whether  in  the  latitude  of  the  Cape  Verde  Islands 
he  altered  his  course  a  quarter  to  the  north-west,  which  took 
him  to  Cape  Saint  Augustine  in  the  Province  of  Pernambuco  ; 
where  the  Portuguese,  wTho  were  there,  to  divert  him  from  the 
voyage  to  the  Moluccas,  told  him  wronders  about  the  wealth 
found  on  the  Plata,  trusting  which  tales  he  decided  to  alter  the 
purpose  of  the  voyage  and  stop  at  the  Plata. 

VIII  Int.  Whether  Rojas  opposed  changing  the  voyage, 
showing  that  the  Portuguese  only  wanted  to  keep  him  from 
going  to  the  Moluccas. 

IX  Int.  Whether,  in  consequence  of  Rojas's  opposition, 
Cabot,  in  order  to  have  his  hands  free,  tried  to  have  him 
killed,  and  the  attempt  failing,  issued  process  against  him, 
without  giving  him  a  hearing,  suborning  witnesses,  &c. 

X  Int.  Whether  on  pretext  of  this  process  he  kept  him 
some  days  a  prisoner,  and  for  all  the  insistance  Rojas  made, 
never  told  him  the  reason  why  he  was  held  in  arrest. 

XI  Int.  Whether  after  keeping  him  for  some  days  in  arrest 
on  board  of  Caro's  vessel,  he  had  him  taken  to  his  own  ship 
where  Rojas  heard  others  say  he  had  been  imprisoned  on 
false  charges,  and  that  Cabot  ought  to  punish  him  if  guilty  or 
punish  the  others  as  slanderers. 

XII  Int.  Whether  in  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  Rojas 
Cabot  left  Pernambuco  with  the  intention  of  stopping  at  the 
Plata,  and  stopped  at  the  Island  of  Patos  to  take  off  some 
Christians  who  were  there,  and  get  information  from  them 
concerning  that  river. 

XIII  Int.  Whether  at  the  Island  of  Patos,  some  Christians 
from  D.  Rodrigo  da  Acunha's  ship  said  that  Loaysa's  squad- 
ron was  lost  in  Magellan  Strait,  and  Cabot  showed  satisfaction, 
boasting  of  the  coming  victory  of  his  own  expedition. 

XIV  Int.  Whether  at  these  base  words  of  Cabot,  Rojas 
answered  regretting  them,  and  insisted  that  they  should 
continue  the  voyage  and  relieve  Loaysa. 

XV  Int.  Whether  on  the  stranding  of  the  flag-ship  Cabot 
basely  abandoned  it  at  once,  and  after  him  the  rest  were  de- 


360  APPENDIX  NO.  35. 

moralized,  and  so  the  ship  was  lost  when  it  might  have  been 
saved. 

XVI  Int.  Whether  on  the  contrary  Francis  de  Rojas 
came  forward  and  used  every  means  and  saved  the  crew  and 
most  of  the  stores. 

XVII  Int.  Of  the  zeal  of  Rojas  in  caring  for  and  helping 
those  that  fell  sick. 

XVIII  Int.  Whether  in  consequence  of  this  zeal  of  Rojas 
and  the  affection  of  all  towards  him,  Cabot  through  envy  be- 
came more  hostile  to  him. 

XIX  Int.  Whether  out  of  this  envy  Cabot  imprisoned 
him  again,  and  would  not  tell  him  the  reason,  nor  give  him 
a  trial,  notwithstanding  his  demands  and  the  constitution 
established  by  H.  M. 

XX  Int.  Whether,  at  the  time  of  sailing  from  Patos,  Cabot 
had   Rojas   and  Mendez  abandoned  on  that  island. 

XXI  Int.  Of  the  protest  made  by  Mendez  while  they  were 
abandoning  him. 

XXII  Int.  Whether  the  inhabitants  of  the  island  where 
Rojas  was  deserted  eat  human  flesh,  and  had  already  killed  and 
eaten  several  Christians,  and  Cabot  left  him  there  for  that 
purpose  and  gave  him  as  a  slave  to  one  of  the  principal 
Indians  of  the  island. 

XXIII  Int.  Whether  Rojas  underwent  great  suffering  and 
peril  on  that  island. 

XXIV  Int.  Whether  by  continuing  the  voyage  the  ex- 
pedition would  have  procured  for  the  Emperor  a  profit 
of  not  less  than  two  millions,  even  if  they  had  only  brought 
back  a  cargo  of  spices. 

XXV  Int.  Whether  Rojas  by  continuing  that  voyage 
would  have  gained  ten  thousand  crowns. 

XXVI  Int.  Whether  all  that  is  here  asked  is  not  the 
public  voice  and  rumor. 

WITNESSES. 

The  same  day,  November  2, 1530,  that  Rojas  presented  his 
Interrogatories,  he  also  offered   Anthony  de   Montoya  a  cit- 


APPENDIX  tfo.  36.  361 

izen  of  Lepe,  as  a  witness  to  his  charges,  and  his  deposition  is 
annexed  to  the  charges  of  the  Interrogatories.  But  the  chan- 
cellor before  signing  the  deposition,  records  that  the  presen- 
tations of  other  witnesses  follow  after,  "despues  siguen  las 
presentaciones  de  otros  testigos  ;"  but  their  names  or  surnames 
are  not  given. 

In  the  Proofs  of  both  Catharine  Vasquez  and  Sebastian 
Cabot,  the  depositions  of  the  witnesses  follow  each  interroga- 
tory. Why  is  it  not  so  here  ?  For  my  part,  seeing  that  many 
of  the  accusations  of  Rojas  are  shown  by  a  light  as  bright  as 
noon-day  to  be  pure  slanders,  I  suspect  that  the  matter  is 
not  altogether  clear  :  that  is  to  say,  that  Rojas  presented  at 
once  that  single  witness  whose  testimony  he  was  sure  of  ;  and 
as  to  the  rest  that  he  handed  in  a  list  of  names,  but  in  fact  no 
others  were  called  to  testify. 

Then  as  to  the  single  witness  heard,  the  abstract  of  his  evi- 
dence is  quickly  given  by  saying  that  he  not  only  confirms  all 
the  charges,  but  most  frequently  in  the  very  words  of  the  ac- 
cusation ;  so  that  the  chancellor  of  the  court  when  at  the  be- 
ginning of  each  question  he  had  substituted  "dijo"  for  "Si 
saben,"  it  was  only  necessary  in  most  instances  to  copy  the 
rest. 


XXXVI. 


Abstract  of  Sebastian  Cabot's  Probanda  in  the  suit  brought  against 
him  by  Catharine  Vasquez. 

I  Int.  Whether  the  witnesses  know  the  persons  implicated 
in  this  suit. 

Ans.  Yes. 

II  Int.  Whether  they  know  of  the  expedition  conducted  by 
Sebastian  Cabot. 

Ans.  Yes.  Here  follow  the  names  and  surnames  of  the 
witnesses  with  their  numbers.  Afterwards  the  record  gives  only 
their  number. 

III  Int.  Whether  they  know  that  Martin  Mendez,  Rojas,  and 
other  officers  met  at  Seville,  and  took  an  oath  to  unite  always 


362  APPENDIX  NO.  36. 

against  Cabot,  and  to  depose  him  and  make  Rojas  Captain. 

Ans.  The  i  heard  it  publicly  stated. 

The  viii  has  heard  talk  of  disagreement  between  Mendez 
and  Rojas  on  one  side  and  Cabot  on  the  other,  that  the  former 
had  labored  with  the  organizers  of  the  expedition  to  have 
Rojas  put  in  command:  knows  no  more. 

The  ix  has  heard  of  the  meeting  and  the  oath,  but  was  not 
told  why. 

The  x  has  heard  of  the  meeting  and  of  the  agreement 
to  kill  Cabot  and  put  Rojas  in  his  place.  He  was  also  told  that 
a  sailor  had  attempted  Cabot's  life,  and  every  one  believed  he 
acted  on  behalf  of  the  conspirators  ;  he  had  also  heard  that 
Rojas  said  that  he  would  have  killed  Cabot  at  the  Rio 
De  Solis. 

IV  Int.  Whether  they  know  that  at  the  Canaries  the  Seville 
conspirators  met  again  and  conspired  with  Alonzo  de  Santa 
Cruz. 

Ans.  The  i  has  heard  it  publicly  spoken  of. 

The  vi  saw  the  persons  named  assembled  with  Santa  Cruz 
who  was  sick,  but  does  not  know  for  what. 

The  vii  has  heard  it  spoken  of. 

The  ix  has  heard  the  meeting  talked  of,  but  was  not 
told  what  it  was  for. 

V  Int.  Whether  they  know  that  Cabot  was  a  learned  person 
and  better  informed  on  matters  of  the  sea  than  any  one  else 
and  on  this  account  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  expedition: 
and  that  he  took  no  step  without  first  consulting  the  captains 
and  officers. 

Ans.  All  the  eleven  witnesses  confirm  this  fully,  some  with 
lively  sentiments  of  admiration,  and  also  giving  particulars. 

VI  Int.  Whether  Cabot  at  the  Island  of  Saint  Catharine 
sent  Michael  de  Rodas  and  Anthony  de  Grajeda  to  sound  the 
bottom  of  the  sea. 

Ans.  The  four  witnesses  called  all  confirm  it. 

VII  Int.  Whether  the  said  Rodas  and  Grajeda  reported 
they  had  taken  soundings  and  that  there  was  plenty  of  water 
for  the  ships. 

Ans.  Nine  witnesses  fully  confirm  it. 


APPENDIX  NO.  36.  363 

VIII  Int.  Whether  the  flag-ship  was  lost  from  not  taking 
proper  soundings. 

Ans.  The  i  witness  confirms  the  fact  and  relates  the  de- 
spair of  Rodas. 

The  ii,  iii,  v,  vi,  vii,  and  ix  confirm  it. 

The  x  confirms  it,  adding  the  bluster  of  Rodas  before 
the  accident. 

IX  Int.  Whether  they  know  that  great  quantities  of  pro- 
visions, rigging,  arms,  &c,  the  best  they  had  for  the  ex- 
pedition, were  lost  with  the  flag-ship. 

Ans.    Eight  witnesses  confirm  it  of  their  own  knowledge,  • 
having  belonged  to  the  ship,  and  one  on  hearsay. 

The  x,  who  belonged  also  to  the  same  ship,  estimates  the  loss 
at  two  thirds  of  all  that  the  expedition  had  ;  and  for  what  was 
saved  he  gives  the  credit  to  Cabot's  orders  and  energy. 

X  Int.  Whether  they  know  that  many  of  the  expedition 
died  from  the  length  of  the  voyage  because  they  were  not 
used  to  the  sea,  from  the  climate,  etc. 

Ans.  The  i  testifies  that  many  died  of  fever  at  the  Island  of 
Saint  Catharine. 

The  ii,  iii,  iv,  v,  and  vil  confirm  it. 

The  vi  confirms  it  and  adds  the  River  de  Solis  to  the  Island 
of  Saint  Catharine,  and  hunger  to  fever,  and  that  many  were 
killed  by  Indians. 

The  viii  confirms  it,  and  says  that  every  one,  or  nearly 
every  one,  was  taken  sick. 

The  ix  confirms  it,  and  explains  that  many  died  from  the 
long  navigation,  change  of  climate,  land,  food,  etc.,  as  he 
has  seen  on  the  other  voyages. 

The  x  confirms  it,  and  says  that  every  one  was  sick,  some 
died  on  the  island,  others  on  the  voyage. 

XI  Int.  Whether  the  inhabitants  of  the  Island  of  St.  Cath- 
arine and  its  neighborhood  were  friendly,  and  whether  they 
found  there  many  Christians  from  D.  Rodrigo  da  Acunha's 
ship. 

Ans.  Eight  witnessess  fully  confirm  it. 

XII  Int.  Whether  Cabot  was  unable  to  continue  the 
voyage  after  the  loss  of  the  flag-ship,  because  it  was  the  half 


304  APPENDIX  NO.  a^. 

of  the  expedition,  and  because  all  the  men  were  sud- 
denly taken  sick  at  that  place. 

Ans.  The  i  confirms  it,  adding  the  great  deal  that  was  told 
them  of  the  wealth  of  La  Plata. 

The  iii  only  knows  of  the  great  number  taken  sick 

The  iv  knows  of  many  sick,  and  the  loss  of  victuals,  and 
no  more. 

The  v  confirms  it. 

The  vi,  viii,  and  ix  know  of  the  loss  of  victuals,  and  of  the 
many  sick,  but  no  more. 

The  vii  confirms  it,  and  derives  his  conviction  from 
the  fact  that  the  few  that  escaped  the  sickness  were  not 
enough  to  work  the  ships. 

The  x  confirms  it,  repeating  that  about  two  thirds  of 
all  that  was  in  the  ships  was  lost  with  the  flag-ship. 

XIII  Int.  Whether  Cabot  landed  at  Pernambuco  in  conse- 
quence of  foul  weather,  and  the  same  weather  drove  him  back 
when  he  tried  to  depart. 

Ans.  The  i  confirms  it,  deposing  that  they  tried  three  times 
to  leave  there  and  were  always  driven  back  again. 
The  other  nine  confirm  the  question. 

XIV  Int.  Whether  they  know  that  the  foul  weather  lasted 
three  months 

Ans.  The  witnesses  confirm  it. 

XV  Int.  Whether  they  know  that  at  the  time  of  this  rest 
Cabot  arrested  Francis  Rojas  and  Martin  Mendez  for  the  war 
they  had  made  on  him,  and  were  every  day  making  with  his 
men  ;  and  whether  it  is  true  that  they  wanted  to  revolt  and 
kill  Cabot. 

Ans.  The  i  knows  of  the  arrest,  public  report  said  they 
wanted  to  revolt,  that  he  afterwards  saw  them  set  free  "and  in 
the  same  power  as  before. 

The  ii,  iv,  v,  viii,  and  ix  only  know  of  the  arrest. 

The  iii  and  vii  know  of  the  arrest :  it  was  a  public  rumor 
that  they  meant  to  revolt. 

The  x  knows  of  the  arrest ;  public  report  confirms  what  is 
in  the  question. 

The  vi  knows  nothing,  now  hears  it  spoken  of  for  the  first 


APPENDIX  NO.  36.  365 

time  ;  he  saw  them  serving  well  and  faithfully,  and  heard 
others  say  so. 

XVI  Int.  Whether  Cabot  at  Pernambuco  released  Francis 
de  Rojas  and  restored  him  to  the  command  of  the  Trinidad, 
admonishing  him,  etc. 

Ans.  The  i,  ii,  iii,  vii,  and  viii  confirm  it. 

The  iv,  v,  and  x  know  of  the  release  and  return  to  com- 
mand, not  of  the  admonition. 

The  ix  testifies  to  the  restoration  to  freedom,  heard  the  rest 
from  public  report. 

XVII  Int.  Whether  at  St.  Catharine  Cabot  stopped  to 
build  a  galiot  by  agreement  with  the  officers,  in  order  to  load 
it  with  what  was  saved  from  the  loss  of  the  flag-ship. 

Ans.  The  i,  ii,  iii,  iv,  v,  vii,  viii,  and  ix  confirm  all. 

The  vi  confirms  the  building  of  the  galiot,  infers  the  agree- 
ment from  the  harmony  between  the  officers  and  Cabot, 

The  x  confirms  the  building,  infers  the  agreement, 
;  XVIII  Int.  Whether  at  the  Island  of  St.  Catharine  two 
men  were  found  who  had  been  with  Captain  de  Soils,  and 
whether  they  urged  going  to  the  river  discovered  by  De 
Solis,  asserting  that  one  of  their  companions  had  gone  there, 
and  brought  away  a  great  quantity  of  gold  and  silver. 

Ans.  The  ten  witnesses  called  fully  confirm  the  matter. 

XIX  Int.  Whether  the  expedition  stopped  at  the  River 
de  Solis  by  agreement  of  all  the  officers. 

Ans.  The  i,  ii,  iii,  v,  vii,  viii,  and  ix  confirm  it. 

The  iv  confirms  it,  adding  that  Cabot  did  nothing  without 
first  agreeing  with  the  officers. 

The  vi  confirms  it,  but  remembers  that  Rojas  opposed  it, 

The  x  confirms  it,  giving  also  what  some  of  the  officers  said 
of  the  wealth  they  should  find  at  the  River  de  Solis. 

XX  Int.  Whether  on  leaving  the  Bay  of  St.  Catharine,  about 
all  the  men  were  sick,  and  in  consequence  of  sickness  unable 
to  follow. 

Ans.  The  i  says  many  were  sick  when  they  left  there, 
many  died  at  the  entrance  of  the  river,  where  they  stopped;  that 
the  officers  held  council  with  Cabot,  and  it  was  decided  to 
leave  the  sick  there,  and  continue  the  exploration  of  the  river 
with  the  rest. 


366  VPPENDIX  NO.  36. 

The  ii,  iii,  iv,  v,  vi,  viii,  ix,  and  x  all  confirm  it,  some  adding 
also  the  want  of  food,  and  the  extreme  weakness  of  all. 

XXI  Int.  Whether  in  consequence  of  the  sickness  and 
extreme  weakness  they  were  obliged  to  abandon  two  anchors 
which  they  could  not  draw  from  the  bottom  of  the  river 

Ans.  Nine  witnesses  confirm  it. 

XXII  Int.  Whether  they  remained  on  the  River  Parana  more 
than  half  a  year  waiting  for  the  convalescents  to  recover,  and 
in  the  meantime  many  of  them  died. 

Ans.  The  i,  ii,  iii,  iv,  v,  and  vii  fully  confirm  it. 

The  vi  knows  they  remained  some  time  on  the  Parana,  but 
does  not  know  how  long;  remembers  one  death,  no  more. 

The  ix  knows  that  some  died,  but  does  not  know  that  they 
were  so  many;  and  does  not  remember  how  long  they  remained 
there. 

The  x  knows  that  some  died,  but  does  not  know  as  they 
were  so  many  ;  they  remained  there  half  a  year,  a  little  more 
or  less. 

XXIII  Int.  Whether  at  the  Island  of  St.Catharine,  Cabot 
found  sufficient  proof  that  Francis  Rojas,  Martin  Mendez, 
and  Michael  de  Rodas  were  raising  the  men  up  against  him, 
and  having  this  proof  brought  them  to  trial,  and  although 
they  deserved  death,  changed  this  punishment  to  deposition. 

Ans.  The  ii,  iii,  iv,  and  v  only  know  of  the  deposition. 

The  viii  knows  of  the  deposition  but  not  of  the  reason  ; 
but  he  saw,  while  the  men  were  ashore,  the  sails  of  the 
caravel  hoisted,  and  heard  afterwards  that  it  was  an  attempt 
at  revolt. 

The  ix  saw  witnesses  called  to  give  evidence  against 
Rojas  and  his  companions  ;  knows  no  more. 

The  x  knows  of  the  deposition,  heard  say  that  it  was  for  an 
attempt  to  revolt. 

XXIV  Int.  Whether  Cabot  left  the  three  deposed  officers 
well  provided  with  food  and  arms  ;  and  whether  he  rec- 
ommended them  to  the  principal  Indians  for  good  treatment, 

Ans.  The  i  knows  of  the  provisions  of  his  own  knowledge, 
of  the  recommendation  by  hearsay. 
The  ii  knows  both  on  hearsay. 


APPENDIX  NO.  36.  367 

The  iii  confirms  both  of  his  own  knowledge. 

The  iv  confirms  both  on  hearsay. 

The  v,  vi,  vii,  and  x  confirm  both  with  some  details. 

The  ix  comfirms  both,  and  adds  particulars. 

XXV  Int.  Whether  they  know  that  Francis  de  Rojas 
stabbed  Genoese  Michael  to  death,  and  then  tried  to  kill 
Martin  Mendez  and  Michael  de  Rodas,  who  fled  from 
him  in  consequence  and  went  towards  Port  San  Vincente 
where  there  were  many  Portuguese,  but  were  drowned  on  the 
way. 

Ans.  The  i,  ii,  iii,  and  v  have  heard  it  spoken  of  at  the  Isl- 
and of  St.  Catharine  itself. 

The  vi  gives  various  details  of  the  quarrel  between  the 
three  officers,  and  of  the  reason  why  Rojas  killed  the  Genoese  ; 
he  does  not  know  that  Rojas  also  threatened  the  two  others. 

The  ix  and  x  confirm  it  with  many  particulars. 

XXVI  Int.  Whether  they  know  that  Cabot  executed  two 
men  who  revolted  and  tried  to  induce  others  to  revolt  ;  that 
one  of  them  used  his  power  to  the  injury  of  the  Indians,  who 
revolted,  and  Cabot  had  much  to  do  to  quiet  them. 

Ans.  The  i  confirms  it,  relating  that  he  had  also  heard  that 
they  meant  to  kill  Cabot. 

The  ii,  iii,  and  v  confirm  it. 

The  vi  makes  a  long  deposition  with  most  interesting  de- 
tails, on  the  hunger  they  endured,  the  desertion  of  the  two 
Christians,  their  arrest,  death,  etc. 

The  viii  confirms  it,  making  likewise  a  deposition  very 
rich  in  details. 

The  x  confirms  and  gives  further  details. 

XXVII  Int.  Whether  Lieutenant  Calderon  had  the  ears 
cut  off  a  sailor  found  stealing,  and  who  fled  inland. 

Ans.  The  nine  witnesses  called  all  confirm  it. 

XXVIII  Int.   Of  Cabot's  care  in  governing  the  expedition. 
Ans.   The  i,  ii,  iii,  iv,  ix,  and  x  confirm  it. 

The  vi  and  viii  confirm  it,  adding  important  details. 

XXIX  Int.  Whether  Cabot  treated  the  Indians  well,  and 
would  not  suffer  them  to  be  ill-treated. 

Ans.  Nine  witnesses  confirm  it. 


368  APPENDIX  NO.  36. 

XXX  Int.  Whether  they  know  that  John  de  Junco  (treas- 
urer of  the  expedition  on  the  Santa  Maria  )  is  one  of  Cabot's 
principal  enemies,  and  was  one  of  the  conspirators  against 
him  at  Seville. 

Ans.  The  vi,  on  the  contrary,  found  them  always  friendly, 
knows  nothing  of  the  conspiracy. 

The  ix,  from  what  he  has  seen  him  doing  against  Cabot 
since  their  return,  concludes  that  he  hates  him. 

The  x  believes  the  enmity,  but  explains  that  it  was  because 
Cabot  had  often  reproved  him  for  ill-treating  the  sailors,  and 
because  once,  when  he  found  him  threatening  to  kill  a  smith, 
Cabot  told  him  if  he  did,  he  would  soon  kill  him,  and  he  is 
strengthened  in  his  opinion  by  the  fact  that,  as  soon  as  they 
arrived  in  Spain,  Junco  talked  with  the  officers  of  the  Contra- 
tacion,  and  Cabot  was  arrested  immediately  afterwards. 

XXXI  Int.  Whether  Alonzo  Bueno  is  Cabot's  enemy  because 
he  had  been  often  punished  by  him  for  keeping  a  public 
gaming-place,  being  a  blasphemer,  and  selling  necessaries  to 
sailors  at  an  exorbitant  price. 

Ans.  The  i  confirms  the  facts,  and  infers  from  them  the 
enmity,  and  gives  the  names  of  the  four  officers  who  had 
the  most  influence  in  procuring  Cabot's  arrest. 

Theii,  iii,  v,  vi,  and  viii,  confirm  the  facts. 

The  ix  since  returning  to  Spain  has  seen  the  said  Alonzo 
doing  Cabot  all  the  harm  possible,  and  therefore  judges  him 
to  be  his  enemy. 

The  x  confirms  it  fully,  mentioning  also  other  faults  of 
Alonzo. 

XXXII  Int.  Whether  Santa  Cruz  is  Cabot's  enemy,  so  de- 
clared, and  one  of  the  conspirators  against  him. 

Ans.  The  ix  confirms  the  enmity  from  the  facts,  has  heard 
that  he  was  one  of  the  conspirators. 
The  x  confirms  it. 

XXXIII  Int.  Whether  Gasmirez  is  Cabot's  enemy  because 
punished  by  him  for  speaking  ill  of  the  Emperor. 

Ans.  The  viii  confirms  it. 

The  x,  from  what  he  has  seen  him  do  against  Cabot,  infers 
that  he  is  his  enemy. 


APPENDIX  NO.  36.  369 

I  Additional  Int.  Whether  they  know  that  Ferdinand 
Mendez,  Martin's  brother,  died  a  natural  death,  like  many 
others  on  the  Island  of  St.  Catharine,  before  Cabot  deposed  his 
brother  Martin,  and  whether  there  is  at  that  place  abundance 
of  food,  and  whether  Cabot  treated  said  Ferdinand  perfectly 
well. 

Ans.  The  iii  and  v  confirm  it  all,  except  that  they  say 
nothing  as  to  whether  Ferdinand  died  before  his  brother 
Martin  was  deposed. 

The  iv  confirms  it  on  hearsay. 

The  vi  confirms  all  fully. 

The  vii  and  x  confirm  it. 

The  ix  confirms  it  with  additional  circumstances. 

II  Add.  Int.  Whether,  while  they  were  going  to  the  Par- 
aguay, Cabot  sent  a  band  of  men  in  search  of  food,  they  all 
returned  but  one,  and  he  sent  twice  to  look  for  him,  with  all 
possible  diligence,  and  wanted  to  continue  the  search,  till  the 
officers  insisted  on  departing  in  order  not  to  die  of  famine. 

Ans.  The  iv,  v,  and  ix  confirm  the  first  part  fully, 

The  vi  and  x  confirm  the  whole. 

The  viii  confirms  it  with  many  particulars. 

After  the  proceedings  of  the  trial,  at  the  end,  are  recorded  : 

A.  An  information  presented  to  the  Casa  de  Contratacion 
by  Catharine  Vasquez,  August  2,  1530. 

B.  Another  information  taken  by  Sebastian  Cabot  on  board 
of  ship  July  2,  1528.  It  is  there  said  that  the  order  for  the 
arrest  of  the  three  officers  who  were  deposed,  was  based  on 
this  information. 

C.  A  third  information  taken  by  the  Casa  de  Contratacion 
to  ascertain  what  was  done  on  the  voyage  and  what  was  dis- 
covered on  land.  This  information  was  taken  without  inter- 
rogatories, July  28,  1530. 

D.  There  is  also  a  record  of  some  opinions  wrhich  Cabot  at 
the  harbor  of  San  Salvador  asked  of  some  of  the  officers  about 
a  voyage  to  ....(?);  a  record  presented  by  Cabot  for  his  de- 
fence, those  officers  having  all  said  that  the  voyage  ought  not 
to  be  made.  These  opinions  were  taken  October  6, 1529. 

E.  Another  summary  information  presented  by   Cabot  to 


370  APPENDIX  NO.  37. 

show  by  whose  fault  the  fort  of  San  Espiritu  in  the  port  of 
San  Salvador  was  captured.  The  capture  was  October  12, 1529. 
F.  Another  summary  information  taken  at  Cabot's  request 
before  the  ordinary  court  at  Seville,  August  7,  1530. 


XXXVII. 


i 

Extract  from  the  Letter  of  Luis  Ramirez, 

Despues  de  una  breve  introduccion  en  que  indica  el  objeto 
que  se  propuso  al  escribirla,  refiere  como  salieron  de  la  bahia 
de  San  Lucar  a  3  de  Abril  de  1526.*  Detienense  en  la  isla  de 
Palma  para  proveerse  de  agua  y  lefia  y  atraversando  el  cenador 
llegaron  a  Pernambuco  por  Junio  del  mismo  afio.  —  Alii  se  de- 
tubieron  algun  tiempo  para  proveerse  de  lo  necesario  e  infor- 
marse  de  la  tierra,  cuyos  productos  sefiala,  describiendo  tam- 
bien  las  costumbres  barbaras  de  sus  habitantes.  Al  poco  tiempo 
ie  haber  salido  de  este  puerto  (29  de  Setiembre)  sufrieron  una 
horrorosa  tormenta  en  que  perecio  el  batel  de  la  nao  capitana, 
teniendo  que  detenerse  junto  a  una  gran  montafia  donde  habia 
madera  para  la  construccion  del  nuevo  batel.  Estando  en  esto 
llegaron  indios  en  canoas,  y  dieronles  a  entender  que  habia  por 
alii  algunos  cristianos,  de  los  cuales  en  efecto  llego  al  dia  si- 
guiente  uno  que  dia  noticia  al  capitan  general  de  otros  varios 
hasta  quinze  que  estaban  alii  desde  la  derrota  sufrida  por  la  ar- 
matade  Loaisa,  iendo  a  las  islas  de  especerie.  Otros  dos  espa- 
noles  habia  alii  por  nombre  Melchor  Ramirez  y  Enrique  Mon- 
tes,  los  cuales  inform aron  al  capitan  de  la  gran  riqueza  de  la 
tierra  y  de  como  saliendo  del  rio  de  Solis  y  entrando  por  el 
Paraguay  llegaron  a  dar  con  una  sierra  abundante  en  ore, 
plata  y  otros  metallos  con  los  que  podrian  llenar  las  naves. 
Pideles  el  general  alguna  muestra  de  aquel  oro  y  plata,  y 
refieren  como  habiendo  estado  cerca  de  la  sierra  algunos  de 


*  The  original  has  1536  which  does  not  accord  with  the  other  facts  of  the 
narrative  (Note  a44ed  to  the  abstract). 


APPENDIX  NO.  37.  371 

sus  companeros  a  ver  al  rey  Blanco,  pudieron  observar  las 
prendas  de  oro  que  Uevaban  los  indios  traidas  de  la  misma 
sierra,  y  que  habiendo   querido  volver  a  aquel  sitio  fueron 
asaltados  de  los  guaranis  para  arrebatarles  los  esclavos  que 
traian  cargados  del  metal  ;  y  que  por  esto,  como  por  haber 
mandado  a  Espaila  poco  antes  hasta  dos  arrobas  de  oro  (que 
al  fin  se  perdieron)  no  conservaban  mas  que  unas  cuentas  que 
tenian  reservadas  par  la  V.  de  Guadalupe  unico  objeto  de  oro 
que  presentaron.     A  la  oferta  que  ellos  hicieron  de  acompafi- 
arle  contesto  el  capitan  que  no  era  aquel  su  camino.  Habiendo 
perdido  la  nao  capitana  retiranse  a  un  monte  para  construir 
una  galeota  en  la  cual  y  en  la  provision  de  viveres  fueron  muy 
ayudados  de  los  indios,  gracias  a  las  diligencias  de    Enrique 
Montes  que  los  conocia.        Refiere  en  seguida  algunas  de  las 
costumbres  del  pais  con  sus  productos  y  las  enfermedades  que 
hubieron  de  sufrir  a  este  sitio  a  causa  da  ser  malsano.  Sa- 
lieron  deste  puerto  que  llamaron  de  Sta   Catalina  el  15  de  Fe- 
brero  de   1527  llegando  despues  de  seis  dias  a  Sta   Maria 
puerto  a  la  desembocadura  del  rio  de  Solis(La  Plata).  Senala 
la  magnitud  del  rio  y  cuenta  los  muchos  trabajos  que  pasaron 
hasta  llegar  a  un  puerto  que  llamaron  de  S.  Lazaro  donde  se 
detubieron  un   mes   para  informarse  de  la  tierra. — Un   tal 
Francisco   del  Puerto,  cautivo  desde  la  derrota  de  Solis  les 
entera  de  la  mucha  riqueza  del  pais  y  del  camino  que  deban 
seguir  para  dar  con  la  referida  sierra.   Con  esto  el  capitan  de- 
termine salir  de  alii  el  6  de  Mayo  no  sin  dejar  alguna  gente 
pare  la  guarda  de  la  hacienda  que  en  aquel  sitio  quedaba. 
Unos  y  otros  padecen  muchos  trabajos  y  hambres,  hasta  que 
el  general  manda  la  galeota  para  conducir  la  gente  y  hacienda 
de  S.  Lazaro,  de  donde  salieron  el  25  de  Agosto  para  llegar  el 
28  al  nuovo  sitio  donde  el  general  habia  hecho  asiento  y  una 
fortaleza  para  la  defensa.  —  Habla  luego  de  las  diversas  tribus 
comarcanas,  sus  costumbres,  productos  de  la  tierra  etc.,  etc.  .  .  . 
y  como  segun  informacion   de  los  mismos  indios  el  camino 
mas  breve  para  ir  a  la  sierra,  era  entrar  por  el  Paraguay. 
Continuan  pues  el  viaje  dejando  la  fortaleza  a  cargo  de  Greg- 
orio  Caro  y  llegan  a  la  isla  Ano  nuevo  este  mismo  dia  (1528). 
Desde  aqui  mando  el  cap.  gen.  a  Miguel  Rifos  con  35  hombres 


372  APPENDIX  NO.  87. 

para  apaciguar  y  castigar  a  los  tribus  que  trataban  de  re- 
belarse  contra  ellos.  Consignase  la  completa  victoria  y  el  rico 
botin  que  adquirieron,  y  la  rara  costumbre  que  las  indias 
tienen  de  cortarse  un  dedo  a  la  muerte  de  sus  hijos. — Du- 
rante este  viaje  encontraron  varias  tribus  cuyas  costumbres  se 
describen  y  tampoco  faltaron  hambres  por  la  escasez  de 
viveres.  Llegan  por  fin  a  abocarse  con  el  Paraguay  por  el  cual 
se  encaminan,  y  en  el  que  los  trabajos  y  el  hambre  se  du- 
plican,  a  causa  de  haberseles  concluido  por  completo  los 
viveres  ;  viendose  precisados  a  comer  los  animales  mas 
inmundos  y  las  plant-as  mas  agrestes.  Para  remediar  tan 
urgente  necesidad  manda  el  capitan  un  vergantin  a  todo  remo 
en  busca  de  bastimentos  a  unos  caserios  bastante  distantes, 
volviendo  al  poco  tiempo  bien  provisto.  Con  esto  pudieron 
llegar  a  dicho  pueblo  que  se  hallaba  regido  por  un  indio 
principal  llamado  Jaquaron,  el  cual  lesrecibio  muy  bieny  les 
provego  de  abundantes  viveres.  En  este  puerto  que  recibio  el 
nombre  de  S.  Ana  estubieron  algunos  dias  y  corao  vieron  que 
los  indios  llevaban  orejeras  y  planchas  de  oro  y  plata,  quisi- 
eron  saber  de  donde  lo  traien  asi  los  de  este  pueblo  como  los 
de  otro  inmediato  a  donde  se  mando  a  Fr.  co  del  Puerto. — 
Este  pudo  averiguar  que  los  chandules  (pueblo  distaute  60  6 
70  leguas),  se  lo  daban  en  cambio  de  otros  objetos.  Determina 
el  general  continuar  el  viaje  hasta  los  mismos  chandules,  que 
segun  decia  se  hallaban  cercanos  a  la  sierra. — Pueblos  que 
fueron  descubriendo  por  la  ribera  del  rio.  El  cap.  gen.  manda 
un  vergantin  delante  para  que  descubre  la  boca  del  rio  Ne- 
petin  que  segun  los  indios  significaba  barriento  por  el  color  de 
sus  aguas,  el  cual  traia  su  origen.  segun  los  mismos,  de  la 
referida  sierra.  Tratan  de  celebrar  paces  con  el  pueblo  de  los 
agales,  y  al  principio  son  bien  recibidos,  pero  como  temiesen 
los  indios  ser  castigados  por  las  muertes  que  antes  habian  he- 
cho,  matan  traidoramente  al  teniente  del  vergantin  Miguel 
Rifos  con  algunos  mas,  volviendo  los  restantes  tristes  a  la  ga- 
leota,  que  les  habia  seguido  desde  lejos  y  con  dificultades  por 
las  condiciones  especiales  del  rio.  El  desgraciado  exito  de  esta 
espedicion  y  el  saber  que  andaba  una  armada  portuguesa  en  el 
rio  Solis  fueron  motivos  para  que  el  general  deter minase  vol- 


At>i>fiNDiX  NO.  38.  373 

verse  rio  abajo  hasta  el  Parana  donde  encontraron  otra  ar- 
mada del  Emperador,  cuyo  capitan  Diego  Garcia  de  Moguer 
trato  de  unirse  a  nuestra  armada  para  volver  bien  pertrecha- 
dos  a  la  dicha  sierra  ;  pero  al  fin  no  hubo  convenio  entre  am- 
bos  generates,  siguiendo  cada  cual  rumbo  distinto.  Viendose 
indecisos  mandan  a  Espana  a  Nersi  Calderon  y  Royel  Barco 
con  una  carabela  y  algunos  presentes  de  oro  y  platn,  para 
que  expongan  a  S.  M.  las  necesidades  de  la  armada  y  mande 
proveer  lo  necesario.  Desde  S.  Salavdor  a  el  rio  Solis  a  10  de 
Julio  de  1528. 

Luis  Ramirez. 


XXXVIII. 


Abstract  of  the  Narrative  which  Diego   Garcia  made  of  his  voyage 
to  the  Plata  in  1526. 

On  the  15th  of  January,  1526, 1  sailed  from  Cape  Finisterre, 
which  lies  in  43°,  and  from  there  sailed  towards  the  Canaries, 
which  are  ....  *  leagues  from  Cape  Finisterre,  we  passed 
by  Madeira,  which  lies  in  32°,  30',  on  the  other  side  of  which 
at.  .  .  .*  stands  Porto  Santo,  and  ten  leagues  from  Madeira 
there  is  an  island  which  is  called  Deserta.  There  we  came 
to  the  Island  of  Palma,  which  lies  at  29°,  and  at  the  Canaries 
we  took  on  what  we  needed  for  our  voyage,  for  we  came  from 
Corunna  without  supplies,  and  we  left  there  the  first  of  Septem- 
ber, because  in  the  middle  of  September  the  sun  begins  to 
bring  the  summer  in  the  places  we  were  going  to,  and  every 
one  sailing  to  those  parts,  ought  to  sail  at  this  season — f  *'  and 
this  navigation  Sebastian  Cabot  did  not  know  enough  to 
make,  with  all  his  astronomy,  and  took  the  contrary  like 
a  man  who  .  .  .  .  "  \  and  we  took  the  direction  of  the  Cape 
Verde  Islands,  and  from  the  Canaries  to  these  islands  it  is  250 


*  The  text  is  illegible.  Many  such  breaks  are  found  in  the  narrative. 

t  Literal  translation  of  the  text.  t  The  text  is  illegible. 


374  APPENDIX  NO.  38. 

leagues,  at  the  Island  of  Buona  Vista  we  took  on  a  fresh  sup- 
ply of  provisions. 

(  Here  he  tells  the  geographical  position  of  the  differ- 
ent islands  of  the  Cape  Verde  group,  and  mentions  the  art- 
icles of  their  commerce  ). 

From  the  Island  of  Buona  Vista  we  made  sail  towards 
Cape  St.  Augustin  which  is  8°  and  a  sixth  beyond  the  equi- 
noctial line,  and  this  course  has  to  be  sailed  with  great 
care  and  knowledge  of  seamanship,  for  there  are  strong 
currents  running  from  the  Gulf  of  Guinea  *  "  and  these  cur- 
rents Sebastian  Cabot  did  not  know  how  to  take,  for  he  was 
not  a  seaman,  and  did  not  know  navigation."  From  the 
Cape  Verde  Islands  to  Cape  St.  Augustin  it  is  500  leagues 
across. 

(  Here  he  touches  on  the  difficulty  of  this  crossing  on 
account  of  the  currents.  ) 

From  there  we  passed  to  Cape  Frio,  which  is  at  23  degrees 
and  I  on  the  side  of  the  south,  where  the  sun  makes  the  long- 
est day  on  the  13th  of  December,  and  from  Cape  St.  Augustin 
to  Cape  Frio  is  fifty  leagues,  and  at  seventeen  degrees  there 
is  a  bay  which  is  called  All-Saints',  and  all  the  coast 
from  Cape  St.  Augustin  to  Cape  Frio  is  inhabited  by  a  bad 
race  that  eat  human  flesh  and  go  naked,  and  from  this  bay  to 
Cape  Formoso  at  twenty-two  degrees  there  are  many 
rocks  and  sand-banks.  We  found  there  an  island  not  marked 
on  any  chart,  which  we  reserved  for  recognition  till  our  'return. 
From  there  we  wTent  for  fresh  supplies  for  the  ships  to 
the  Bay  of  St.  Vincent  which  is  in  thirteen  degrees,  wThere 
a  certain  bachelor  and  his  son-in-law  have  been  living 
thirty  years,  and  wre  remained  there  till  the  15th  of  Janu- 
ary of  the  next  year,  1527,  and  wTe  obtained  there  a  great  sup- 
ply of  fresh  meat  and  fish  and  whatever  we  wanted.  From 
this  bachelor's  son-in-law  I  bought  a  brigantine  and  he 
agreed  to  come  with  us  as  interpreter.  And  I  bargained  with 
the  bachelor  and  his  son-in-law  to  let  them  have  my  big  ship 
to  carry  eight  hundred  slaves  to  Spain,  and  made  the  bargain 

*  Literal  translation  of  the  text. 


APPENDIX  NO.  38.  375 

with  the  agreement  of  all  my  officers  ;  and  it  was  agreed  that 
we  should  deliver  the  ship  at  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  because  she 
could  not  enter  the  river,  and  I  had  often  told  Don  Ferdin- 
and's auditor  that  this  ship  could  not  enter  the  river  on  account 
of  her  size  ;  but  they  tried  to  make  me  load  her  with  slaves,  and 
I  did  so,  because  they  did  not  carry  out  His  Majesty's  orders, 
that  they  should  have  given  me  what  was  agreed  on  in 
the  bargains  ;  and  they  did  not  give  me  the  ship  at  the  time 
stipulated  for,  as  they  ought  to  have  given  me  the  ship 
in  September  and  they  did  not  give  it  to  me  till  the  middle 
of  January. 

We  sailed  from  the  Bay  of  St.  Vincent  in  the  middle  of  the 
month  of  January  of  the  said  year,  and  reached  Cape  St. 
Mary  which  is  in  thirty-four  degrees  and  a  half  ;  here  is  the 
entrance  to  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  and  from  St.  Vincent  to 
Cape  St.  Mary  is  two  hundred  and  sixty-three  leagues  :  * 
"and  going  on  our  way  we  came  to  a  river  which  is  called  the 
Rio  de  Patos,  which  is  in  twenty-seven  degrees  and  has 
a  good  population  who  do  much  good  work  for  the  Christians 
and  are  called  Carriares,  and  here  they  gave  us  much  food, 
as  millet,  mandioco,  meal  &c,  &c,  for  they  were  good  Indians, 
and  it  was  here  that  Sebastian  Cabot  arrived  dead  with  hunger 
at  the  time  while  I  was  there,  the  Indians  gave  him  food  and 
all  that  he  and  his  men  needed  for  their  voyage,  and  when  he 
wanted  to  go  where  he  was  going  he  took  four  sons  of  the  prin- 
cipal persons  there,  and  carried  them  to  Spain,  and  has  three 
of  them  at  Seville,  which  did  harm  to  that  harbor  which  was 
the  best  and  the  people  the  best  in  those  parts  because  he  had 
taken  the  sons  of  the  principal  men  of  the  island." 

Continuing  our  voyage  we  came  to  Cape  St.  Mary  which 
is  as  we  have  said  at  thirty-four  degrees  and  a  half  and  out- 
side of  the  cape  there  is  an  island  called  de  los  Pargos,  and 
here  we  remained  eight  days  waiting  for  our  brigantine  which 
came  behind.  And  further  on  the  river  forms  an  island  which 
is  called  La  Palma,  which  gives  good  shelter  for  a  few  ships  ; 
and  on  all  the  coast  around  not  an  Indian  was  seen,  but  fur- 

*  Literal  translation  of  the  text. 


376  APPENDIX  NO.  38. 

ther  on  there  is  a  population  called  Charruaes  who  eat  human 
flesh  and  live  by  hunting  and  fishing.  Here  came  our  brigan- 
tine  and  we  went  to  the  Island  of  Las  Pietras  seventy  leagues 
further  on.  Here  we  remained  to  put  together  the  brigantine 
which  we  were  carrying  in  separate  pieces,  and  after  she  was 
equipped  I  began  to  ascend  the  river  with  her  and  after  sail- 
ing twenty-five  leagues  we  came  to  a  place  where  there  were  two 
of  Sebastian  Cabot's  ships,  and  Anthony  de  Grajeda  was  there 
as  a  guard. *  "He  came  against  us  with  some  Indian  canoes  and 
an  armed  boat  believing  we  were  Rojas  and  Michael  Rodas  and 
Martin  Mendez  coming  to  attack  him,  for  he  had  left  them  on 
an  island  abandoned  among  Indians,  and  we  thought  we 
should  have  to  fight  supposing  that  he  came  to  hurt  us.  But  I 
recognized  him  as  Anthony  de  Grajeda,  and  we  knew  at  once 
that  it  was  Sebastian  Cabot's  fleet,  and  we  went  with  him  to  his 
ships  and  he  showed  us  great  honor,  and  gave  us  news  of  his 
Captain-general,  and  how  he  had  received  a  letter  that  day  in 
which  he  informed  him  how  he  had  killed  more  than  four 
hundred  Indians,  and  was  going  with  great  victory  further  up 
the  river  making  war  on  the  Indians.  We  went  back  to  our 
ships  and  with  the  approval  of  all  my  officers  it  was  immedi- 
ately agreed  to  send  the  ship  out  of  the  river  because  she  was  in 
great  danger  from  the  strong  winds  blowing  at  that  season  in 
the  river,  and  let  her  go  to  take  in  the  cargo  of  slaves  of  the 
said  bachelor  who  had  charterd  her  for  Spain,  and  would  carry 
the  news  how  Sebastian  Caboto  was  doing  on  the  river."  And 
the  (big)  ship  went  to  St.  Vincent,  and  the  others  joined  Sebas- 
tian Cabot's  ships,and  fifteen  days  after,I  left  there  on  my  brig- 
antine with  sixty  men  and  we  arrived  eighty  leagues  further 
up  at  a  place  where  Sebastian  Cabot  had  for  a  fort  a  house  all 
made  of  straw  and  he  called  it  the  Fort  of  San  Espiritu,  and 
Gregory  Caro  was  there  on  guard.  So  far  we  saw  no  Indians, 
and  in  this  place  and  around  it  there  were  Indians  called  Guar- 
anis.*  "  "We  urged  Gregory  Caro  to  abandon  this  conquest 
because  it  did  not  concern  him,  and  he  answered  us  very  well, 
and  said  that  they  were  in  that  house  for  His  Majesty  and  Se- 

*  Literal  translation  of  the' text. 


Appendix  No.  3S.  377 

bastian  Cabot,  and  for  the  rest,  he  was  at  my  command  (  res- 
pondio  muy  bien,  dijo  que  todo  lo  obederia,  e  questavan  en 
aquella  casa  por  su  mayestad  e  por  Sebastian  gavoto  e  que  es- 
tava  a  mi  servicio),  and  gave  us  news  of  his  captain,  that  the 
Indians  had  told  him  that  Sebastian  Cabot  had  been  defeated 
further  up,  and  many  men  killed, and  begged  me  if  I  found  any 
of  them  in  the  places  where  I  w-as  going  to  make  dis- 
coveries, that  I  would  ransom  them  and  he  would  pay  me 
back  the  price,  and  commended  himself  to  my  mercy,  that  if 
his  captain  was  dead  I  wTould  not  leave  him  on  the  River,  but 
take  him  with  me  and  I  should  be  doing  a  service  to  God  and 
Your  Majesty."  I  sailed  from  there  on  Good  Friday  and  in 
twenty-seven  days  I  discovered  as  much  as  Sebastian  Cabot 
in  five  months  and  we  navigated  the  river  as  far  as  St.  Ann 
in  Paraguay.  From  the  harbor  of  San  Espiritu  to  this  place 
is  one  hundred  leagues  and  it  is  in  the  28th  degree.*  "And 
it  was  up  to  this  place  of  St.  Ann  that  we  discovered  and  Se- 
bastian Cabot  discovered,  and  above  here.  .  .  .f  leagues  they 
killed  his  first  men  he  had  writh  him,  and  they  killed  through 
his   fault   twenty   and   (  or  ?  )    thirty  men,    and   this   was 

.  .  .  .fWe  went  to  them,  and  did  not  see  them  nor  find 
them,  and  this  is  the  truth  that  we  came  as  far  as  this,  he  and 
we." 

Here  he  gives  the  names  of  some  of  the  people  he  met, 
Guaranis,  Iaanaes,  etc.;  of  their  customs  he  only  says  what 
they  eat,  "comen  came,  comen  pescado  e  carne,"  etc.,  and 
asserts  that  these  populations  "dan  nuevas  deste  paraguay  que 
en  el  ay  mucho  oro  e  plata  e  grandes  riquezas  e  piedras  pre- 
ciojas."  And  with  the  record  of  these  riches  his  narrative  ends: 
"y  esto  es  lo  que  sabemos  deste  descubrimiento." 

*  Literal  translation  of  the  text.        f  Text  illegible. 


378  APPENDIX  NO.  39. 


XXXIX. 

Inscription  on  the  chart  of  Sebastian  Cabot  of  1544,  relative  to  his 
exploration  of  la  Plata. 

Llaman  los  Indios  a  este  gran  Rio  el  Ryo  hurnai,  en  Ca- 
stellan el  Rio  de  la  Plata  toma  este  nombre  del  Rio  hurnai  el 
qual  es  un  Rio  muy  caudaloso  que  entra  en  el  gran  Rio  de  Pa- 
rana descubriolo  loan  Diaz  de  Solis  piloto  mayor  de  los  catho- 
licos  reyos  de  gloriosa  memoria  y  descubrio  hasta  una  isla  que 
el  dicho  loan  Diaz  puso  nombre  la  isla  de  Martin  Garcia,  por- 
que  en  ella  entierro  un  marinero,  que  se  decia  Martin  Garcia, 
la  qual  dicha  isla  esta  obra  treynta  leguas  arriba  de  la  boca 
deste  Rio  y  coste  le  bien  caro  lo  dicho  descubrimiento,  por- 
que  los  Indios  de  la  dha  tierra  lo  mataron,  y  lo  comieron,  y 
despues  passados  muchos  Annos  lo  bolvio  a  hallar  Sebastian 
Caboto  Capitan  y  Piloto  mayor  de  S.  c.  c.  m.  del  Imperador 
don  Carlos  quinto  deste  nombre,  y  Rey  nuestro  Sennor,  el 
qual  yva  por  Capitan  general  de  una  armada  que  su  majestad 
mando  hazer  para  el  descubrimiento  de  Tarsis,  y  Catayo  Ori- 
ental, el  qua  dho  capitan  Sebastia  Caboto  vino  a  este  Rio  por 
caso  fortuito,  porque  la  nao  capitana  en  que  yva  sele  perdio,  y 
visto  que  no  podia  seguir  el  dho  su  viaie,  accordo  de  descu- 
brir  con  lagente  que  lluava  el  dicho  Rio,  vista  la  gradissima 
relacion,  que  los  Indios  de  la  tierra  le  dieron  de  la  gradissima 
riqueza  de  oro,  y  plata,  que  enla  dha  tierra  avia,  y  no  sin  gra- 
dissimo  trabaio  y  hambre,  y  peligros  asi  de  su  persona  como 
de  los  que  conel  y  van,  y  procuro  el  dho  capitan  de  hazer  cerca 
del  dicho  rio  algunas  poblationes  de  la  gente  que  llevo  de  es- 
pana.  Este  Rio  es  mayor  que  nyngunode  quatosacaseconoscen 
tiene  de  encno  enla  entrada,  que  entra  enla  mar,  veinte  y  cinco 
leguas,  en  ancho  la  causa  de  ser  tan  grade  y  poderoso,  es 
que  entran  enel  otros  muchos  rios  grades  y  caudalos  Es  rio  de 
infinitissimo  pescado,  y  el  meior  que  ay  enel  mundo,le  gente  en 
llegado  aquella  terra  quiso  connoscer  si  era  fertil,  y  apareiada 
para  labrar  y  llevar  pan  y  senbraron  en  el  mes  de  setiembre 


APPENDIX  NO.  40.  379 

LII  granos  de  tigro  que  no  se  hallo  mas  enlas  naos  y  cogieron 
luego  enel  mes  de  deziembre  cinqueta,  y  do  mill  granos  de  ti- 
gro, que  esa  misma  fertilitad  se  hallo  entodas  las  otras  semillas. 
Losq  en  aquella  tierra  biven  dizen  que  no  lexos  de  ay  en  la 
tierra  a  dentro  que  ay  unas  grades  sierras  de  donde  sacan  infin- 
itissimo  oro,  y  que  mas  adelante  enlas  mismassierras,  sacan  in- 
finita  plata.  Ay  en  esta  tierra  unas  aveias  grandes  como  asnos 
comunes,  de  iigura  de  camelbos,  salvo  que  tienen  lalana  tan 
fina  como  seda,  y  otras  muy  diversas  animales.  Lagente  de  la 
dha  tierra  es  muy  discrete  entre  si,  porque  los  que  biven  enlas 
aldas  de  las  sierras  son  blancos  como  nos  otros,  y  los  que  estan 
hazia  la  Ribera  del  Rio,  son  mornos.  Algunos  dellos  dizen  que 
enlas  dhas  sierras  ay  hombres  que  tienen  el  Rostro  como  de 
perro  y  otros  de  la  rodilla  abaxo  como  de  Abestruz  y  que  es- 
tos  son  grandes  trabaiadores,  y  que  cogen  mucho  mays  de  que 
hazen  pan  y  vino  del,  otras  muchas  cosas  dizen  de  aquella 
tierra  que  no  se  pone  aquy  por  no  ser  prolixas. 


XL. 

Abstract  of  the  summons  made  by  Diego  Garcia  on  Captain  Francis 
de  Rojas,  in  the  name  of  Sebastian  Cabot. 

It  commences  with  Diego  Garcia's  order  to  the  notary  of  his 
squadron  to  proceed  to  deliver  to  Captain  Francis  de  Rojas 
in  person  an  order  of  Sebastian  Cabot.  The  document  is 
dated  at  the  Port  of  St.  Vincent,  Tuesday,  March  22, 1530. 

Next  follows  Sebastian  Cabot's  order.  It  commands  Cap- 
tain Rojas  to  come  on  board  of  the  Santa  Maria  del  Espinar, 
now  the  flag-ship,  "to  be  taken  to  Spain  and  delivered  to  His 
Majesty,  and  to  the  council  of  the  Indies,  to  account  for  and 
answer  certain  accusations  that  have  been  made  against  you, 
for  acts  against  His  Majesty's  service  and  mine."  He  was  to 
present  himself  within  six  days,  under  penalty  of  life  and  the 
loss  of  all  his  property;  and,  if  not  obeying,  he  was  to  be 


380  APPENDIX  NO.  40. 

held  thenceforth  as  condemned,  and  his  property  confiscated 
for  the  Chambers  and  Treasury  of  His  Majesty.  In  order  that 
he  should  not  fear  to  present  himself,  he  gave  him  his  faith 
and  word  on  behalf  of  the  King  to  grant  him  any  safe  con- 
duct he  wanted  for  his  personal  security,  until  delivered  to 
His  Majesty  or  to  the  royal  council  of  the  Indies. 

This  order  bears  the  same  date  as  the  preceding 

Then  comes  the  declaration  of  Diego  Garcia's  notary,  which 
avers  that  he  presented  to  Captain  Francis  de  Rojas  the 
above  order  on  Tuesday,  March  24,  1530,  at  the  house  of 
Gonzalo  da  Costa,  a  Portuguese;  Rojas  answered  that  he 
would  reply  within  the  time  allowed  by  law  ;  the  names  of 
four  witnesses  present  at  the  service  of  the  order,  come  after. 

Next  follows  the  reply  of  Rojas.  It  begins  by  declaring 
that  he  does  not  recognize  Cabot's  authority  over  him,  since 
he  had  long  ago  removed  him  from  his  power  and  juris- 
diction, abandoning  him  in  a  land  of  Infidels  who  eat  human 
flesh,  and  left  him  the  slave  of  an  Indian,  where  he  had 
suffered  much  and  undergone  great  peril.  Now  recalling 
that  Cabot  had  been  the  cause  of  it  all,  he  saw  plainly  that, 
as  before,  so  now  also  he  wTanted  to  cause  his  death,  and 
therefore  tried  to  bring  him  by  fraud  into  his  power  in  order 
to  dispose  of  him  at  his  pleasure.  But  he  would  not  second 
his  intentions.  He  was  ready  to  proceed  to  give  an  account 
of  his  conduct  to  His  Majesty,  but  wTith  some  one  not  under 
Cabot's  orders,  and  as  he  truly  desired  to  serve  His  Majesty, 
and  has  learned  that  Cabot  left  seventy  to  eighty  men  at  Cape 
St.  Mary,  he  offers  to  go  there  and  take  them  off  as  he  has  a  ship 
built  in  partnership  with  Gonzalo  da  Costa.  But  as  this  ship 
is  not  yet  equipped  he  demands  of  Cabot  all  the  men  and 
supplies  needed  for  fitting  it  out.  On  returning  he  and  they 
will  place  themselves  under  his  command.  And  since  he 
has  been  told  that  at  the  Isle  of  Patos  he  seized  four  Indians 
by  whose  capture  the  whole  land  is  turned  upside  down,  he 
offers  to  take  those  young  men  back  to  their  island. 

Rojas  then  reports  that  the  emperor  had  authorized  all  the 
Captains  and  officers  of  Cabot's  fleet  to  carry  off  two  slaves 
apiece.     And  as  he  has  his  two,  he  demands  that  Cabot  take 


APPENDIX  NO.  41.  381 

them  on  his  ship  and  carry  them  and  deliver  them  to  his 
relatives  in  Spain. 

The  reply  of  Rojas  is  dated  Saturday,  March  26  ;  and  the 
Monday  following,  the  28th,  the  notary  Alonzo  Gomez  Varela 
of  Diego  Garcia's  squadron,  carried  the  reply  to  Cabot.  Cabot 
required  it  to  be  written  in  legal  form  for  presentation  to  His 
Majesty  and  the  Council  of  the  Indies. 


XLI. 

Historia  geral  do  Brazil  .  .  .  por  un  socio  do  Instituto  historico 
do  Brazil,  natural  de  Sorocaba.(F.  Ad  de  Varnhagen.) — Ma- 
drid, 1854.    Tomo  primeiro.   (Bibl.    Nact.    LII-3)  p.  439. 

Carta  de  Siniao  Affonso — de  Sevilla. 

Sfir.  en  estou  vesta  cidade  de  sevilha  esperado  reguado  de 
Vosa  Alteza  pa  daqui  hir  a  corte  do  emperador  pedir  execucao 
cotra  Joao  frz.  de  crasto  eseusbensse  V.  A.  asi  onner  per  seu 
servico  por  que  aqui  ja  esta  determinado  q.  se  nao  ha  de  fazer 
sem  o  d.  °  conselho  vir  per  especial  madado  as  justicasdesta  ci- 
dade que  a  facao  segundo  tenho  escrito  a  V.  A.  e  per  nao  ver 
mandado  de  V.  A.  nao  sao  ja  partydo  por  que  sua  justiea  se 
perde  e  esto  se  dilatar  madeine  V.  A.  o  que  for  seu  servico 
porquenao  esperooutra  cousa.  esta  somana  chegou  aqui  hum 
piloto  e  capitao  que  era  hydo  a  descobrir  terra  o  qual  se 
chama  gabote  piloto  mor  destes  reinos  e  he  ho  que  madon  o 
navio  que  veo  ter  a  lixboa  agora  ha  dous  anos  que  trazia 
nova  de  huma  tera  descuberta  polo  rio  Perenai  qui  deziao  ser 
de  muito  ouro  e  prata,  elle  veo  muy  desbaratado  e  pobre  por 
q.  dize  que  nao  tras  ouro  nem  prata  nem  cousa  algua  de  pro- 
veito  aos  armadores  e  deduzentoshomems  que  leuon  nao  tras 
vyte  que  todos  los  outras  dyzen  que  la  flcao  mortos  hums  de 
trabalho  e  fame  outros  de  guera  q.  cos  mouros  tiverao  por  q. 
as  frechadas  dize  q.  matarao  muitos  deles  e  lhe  desfizerao 
hua  fortaleza  de  madeyra  que  la  tinhao  feyta,  de  maniera  que 


382  APPENDIX  NO.  42. 

elles  vem  mal  contentes  e  o  piloto  esta  presso  e  dizen  que  queren 
madar  a  corte  ver  o  q.  madao  q.  se  dele  faca,  o  q.  disto  pude 
saber  e  se  aqui  pobrica  aynder  que  muy  paso  he  que  na  terra 
que  deziao  ser  descuberto  nao  deixao  nenhum  reguado  saluo 
a  gente  morta  e  o  gasto  perdido.  dizen  com  tudo  estes  homes  que 
vierao  que  a  terra  he  de  muita  prata  e  ouro  e  a  cauza  perq.  nao 
trazen  nada  he  segundo  dizen  per  que  o  capitao  os  nao  quis  de- 
ixar  tractar  e  tanbem  perque  os  mouros  os  enganarao  e  se  al- 
evanartarao  contreles  disto  podera  V.  A.  creer  o  que  lhe  parecer, 
da  terra  ficar  deserta  nao  tenha  duvida  o  rio  dizen  que  he  muy 
grande  e  alto  e  muito  largo,  na  entrada.  se  V.  A.  onner  por  seu 
seruiyo  madar  la  agora  o  podera  fazer,  porq.  esta  gente  apartase 
muito  donde  nao  ve  dr.  °  ,  e  se  acerqua  disto  poder  ao  diate 
saber  mais  particularidades  escreuerei  a  V.  A.,  noso  sfir  a  vida  e 
real  estado  da  V.  A.  conserve  e  acrecente  per  muitos  anos,  de 
sevilha  ha  ij  dagosto  de  1530  —  Simao,  doctor. 


XLIL 

1533.  Letter  of  Sebastian   Cabot  to  H.   M's  Secretary  Juan  de 
Samano.  (Seville,  24  of  June). 

Al  muy  magnifico  sefior  el  sefior  Juan  de  Samano  secre- 
tario  de  su  magestad  mi  sefior  en  madrid. 
muy  magnifico  Sefior = 
oy  dia  del  bien  aventurado  san  Juan  recebi  una  carta  del 
adelantado  de  canaria  por  la  qual  me  parece  que  todavia  tiene 
guno  de  tomar  la  enpresa  del  rio  de  parana  que  tan  caro  me 
questa  un  cnadc  del  dicho  adelantado  me  dio  la  carta  y  me 
diyo  que  va  alia  y  lleva  carta  del  dicho  adelantado  para  los 
sefiores  del  consejo  sobra  la  dicha  enpresa  plega  dios  nuestro 
sefior  de  encaminarlc  todc  como  su  santa  fe  catolica  sea  au- 
mentada  y  el  ynperadoi  nuestro  sefior  servido.  Sefior  la  carta 
que  vuestra  merced  me  envio  a  mandar  que   yriese   ya  la 


append rx  NO.  i2.  383 

tengo  acabada  y  dada  al  contador  dela  casa  dela  contratacion 
para  que  la  envie  la  vuestra  merced  Suplico  a  vuestra  merced 
me  perdone  por  no  averla  acabado  mas  presto  y  en  verdad 
sino  fuera  por  la  muerte  de  my  hija  y  por  la  dolencia  de  my 
muger  y  mya  dias  ha  que  vuestra  merced  la  huvyera  recebido 
bien  pense  de  llevarla  yo  mismo  (con  otras  dos  que  tengo  fecho 
para  su  magestad)  creo  que  su  magestad  y  los  senores  del 
Consejo  quedaran  satisfechos  della  porqueveran  como  se  pu- 
ede  navegar  por  redondo  por  sus  derotas  como  se  ace  por 
una  carta  y  la  causa  porque  nordestea  y  noruestea  la  guja  y 
como  es  forcoso  que  lo  haga  y  que  tantas  quartas  a  de  nord- 
estear  y  noruestear  antes  que  torna  abolverce  azia  el  norte  y 
en  que  meridiano  y  con  esto  terra  su  magestad  la  regla  cierta 
para  tomar  la  longitud. 

Senor  suplico  a  vuestra  merced  me  aga  merced  de  escrivir 
a  estos  Senores  officiales  dela  casa  dela  contratacion  que  me 
socorran  con  un  tercio  de  my  salario  adelantado  para  que  me 
pueda  desmpechar  de  a  qui  e  yr  alia  a  besar  las  manos  de 
vuestra  merced  y  a  ablar  con  los  senores  del  Consejo  y  llevarle 
un  criado  mas  que  quedo  enla  carta  del  brasil  el  qual  vino 
con  los  portogueses  que  de  alia  vinieron  para  de  relacion  de 
todo  lo  que  alia  an  fecho  los  Portugueses  y  esto  suplico  a  vuestra 
merced  allende  de  otra  muchas  mercedes  que  de  vuestra  mer- 
ced tengo  recebidas,  nuestro  senor  guarde  la  magnifica  per- 
sona de  vuestra  merced  y  estado  acreciente  como  por  vuestra 
merced  es  deseado  y  vuestro  servidore  desean  y  a  my  Sefiora 
dona  Juana  beso  la  mano  de  Sevilla  oy  dia  del  bien  aventu- 
rado  San  Juan  del  1533  anos  besa  la  mano  de  vuestra  merced 
su  muy  cierto  servidor= Sebastian  Cabo{o=hay  una  firma." 

Es  copia  conforme  con  el  original  de  su  referenda  esistente 
en  este  Archivo  Grat  de  India,  en  cl.  Ectante  143— Cajon3 — 
Legajo  11. 

Sevilla  de  Iunio  de  1891. 

El  Archivero-Gefe 
C*lslo  Simener-Hace. 


384  APPENDIX  NO,  43. 


XLIII. 

Extract  from  the  Letter  of  Robert  Thome  to  the  King  of  England, 
Henry  VI11,  in  1527,  inviting  him  to  open  a  way  into  the  northern 
seas  in  order  to  put  himself  in  communication  with  the  eastern 
lands  of  Cathay. 

Yet  these  dangers  or  darkness  hath  not  letted  the  Span- 
iards and  Portuguese  and  others,  to  discover  many  unknown 
realms  to  their  great  peril.  Which  considered  (and  that  your 
Graces  subjects  may  have  the  same  light)  it  will  seem  your 
Graces  subjects  to  be  without  activity  or  courage,  in  leaving 
to  do  this  glorious  and  noble  enterprise.  For  they  being  past 
this  little  way  which  they  named  so  dangerous,  (which  may 
be  two  or  three  leagues  before  they  come  to  the  Pole,  and  as 
much  more  after  they  pass  the  Pole)  it  is  clear,  that  from 
thenceforth  the  seas  are  as  temperate  as  in  these  parts,  and 
that  then  it  may  be  at  the  will  and  pleasure  of  the  mariners, 
to  choose  whether  they  will  sail  by  the  coasts,  that  be  cold, 
temperate  or  not.  For  they  being  past  the  Pole,  it  is  plain 
they  may  decline  to  what  part  they  list. 

If  theis  will  go  toward  the  Orient,  they  shall  enjoy  the  re- 
gions of  all  the  Tartarians  that  extends  toward  the  midday, 
and  from  thence  they  may  go  and  proceed  to  the  land  of  the 
Chinese,  and  from  thence  to  the  land  of  Cathaio  Oriental,  which 
is  of  all  the  mainland,  most  Oriental  that  can  be  reckoned  from 
our  habitation.  And  if,  from  thence,  they  do  continue  their 
navigation,  following  the  coasts  that  return  towrard  the  Occi- 
dent, they  shall  fall  in  with  Malaca,  and  so  with  all  the  In- 
dies, which  we  call  Oriental,  and  following  the  wray,  may  re- 
turn hither  by  the  Cape  of  Buona  Speranza  ;  and  thus  they 
shall  compass  the  whole  world.  And  if  they  will  take  their 
course  after  they  be  past  the  Pole,  toward  the  Occident,  they 
shall  go  in  the  backside  of  the  Newfoundland,  and  which  of 
late  was  discovered  by  your  Grace's  servants.  And  so  continu- 


APPENDIX  NO.  43.  385 

ing  their  voyage,  they  may  return  through  the  strait  of  Ma- 
gellan to  this  country,  and  so  they  compass  also  the  world  by 
that  way  ;  and  if  they  go  this  third  way,  and  after  they  be 
past  the  Pole,  go  right  toward  the  Pole  antarctic,  and  then  de- 
cline towards  the  lands  and  island  situated  between  the  Trop- 
ics, and  under  the  Equinoctial,  without  doubt  they  shall  find 
there  the  richest  lands  and  islands  of  the  World  of  Gold, 
precious  stones,  balmes,  spices,  and  other  things  that  we  here 
esteem  most  which  come  out  of  strange  countries,  and  may 
return  the  same  wray. 

By  this  it  appeareth,  your  Grace  hath  not  only  a  great  ad- 
vantage of  the  riches,  but  also  your  subjects  shall  not  travel 
halfe  of  the  way  that  others  do,  which  go  round  about  as 
aforesaid. 


To  which  places  there  is  left  one  way  to  discover,  which  is 
into  the  North  ;  for  that  of  the  four  parts  of  the  world,  it  seem- 
eth  three  parts  are  discovered  by  other  princes.  For  out  of 
Spaine  they  have  discovered  all  the  Indies  and  seas  Occiden- 
tal and  out  of  Portugal  all  the  Indies  and  seas  Oriental  :  so 
that  by  this  part  of  the  Orient  and  Occident,  they  have  com- 
passed the  world.  For  the  one  of  them  departing  toward  the 
Orient,  and  the  other  toward  the  Occident,  met  again  in  the 
course  or  way  of  the  midst  of  the  day,  and  so  then  was  discov- 
ered a  great  part  of  the  same  seas  and  coasts  by  the  Spaniards. 
So  that  now  rest  to  be  discovered  the  said  North  parts,  the 
which  it  seemeth  to  me,  is  only  your  charge  and  duty.  Be- 
cause the  situation  of  this  your  realm  ys  thereunto  nearest  and 
aptest  of  all  others  ;  and  also  for  that  you  have  already  taken 
it  in  hand.  And  in  mine  opinion  it  will  not  seem  well  to  leave 
so  great  and  profitable  an  enterprise,  seeing  it  may  so  easily 
and  with  so  little  cost,  labor,  and  danger,  be  followed  and  ob- 
tained, though  heretofore  your  Grace  hath  made  thereof  a 
proofe,  and  found  not  the  commodity  thereby  as  you  trusted,  at 
this  time  it  shall  be  no  impediment etc. 

Hakluyt,  vol.  i,  p.  213. 

25 


386  APPENDIX  NO.  41 


XLIV. 

Extract  from  the  Letter  of  Robert  Thome  to  D.  Ley,  Ambassador  of 
Henry  VIII  in  Spain,  in  regard  to  the  new  lands  discovered  in  the 
West  Indies. 

For  out  of  Spaine  they  have  discovered  all  the 

Indies  and  seas  Occidental,  and  out  of  Portugale  all  the  Ind- 
ies and  seas  Oriental  ....  so  that  nowe  rest  to  bee  discov- 
ered the  said  North  partes,  the  which  it  seemeth  to  mee  is 
onely  your  charge  and  dutie.  Because  the  situation  of  this 
your  Realme  is  thereunto  neerest  and  aptest  of  all  other  : 
and  also  for  that  you  have  alreadie  taken  it  in  hande,  and 
in  mine  opinion,  it  will  not  seeme  well  to  leave  so  great  and 

profitable   an  enterprise Though,  heretofore,    your 

Grace  hath  made  thereof  a  proofe,  and  found  not  the  com- 
moditie  thereby  as  you  trusted,  at  this  time  it  shall  bee  no 
impediment.  Fore  there  may  bee  nowe  provided  remedies 
....  and  lettes  remooved  that  then  were  cause  your  Grace's 
desire  tooke  no  full  effect,  which  is,  the  courses  to  be 
chaunged,  and  followe  the  aforesaid  new  courses. 

And  nowe  to  declare  some  thing it  ys  very  cleere 

and  certaine  that  the  seas  that  commonly  men  say  that  with- 
out great  danger,  difficultie,  and  perill,  yea,  rather,  it  is  im- 
possible to  passe,  those  same  seas  bee  navigable,  and  without 

any  such  daunger  but  that  shippes  may  passe For 

they  (your  Grace's  Subiects),  being  past  this  little  way 
which  they  named  so  dangerous,  which  may  bee  ii  or  iii 
leagues  before  they  come  to  yc  Pole,  and  as  much  more  after 
they  passe  the  Pole,  it  is  cleere  that  from  thence  foorth  the 
seas  and  Landes  are  as  temperat  as  in  these  partes,  and  that 
then  it  may  be  at  the  will  and  pleasure  of  the  mariners  to 

choose  whither  they  will  saile For  they  being  past  the 

Pole,  it  is  plaine  they  maye  decline  to  what  parte  they  list.  If 
they  will  goe  towarde  the  Orient  they  shall  inioy  the  regions 
of  all  the  Tartarians from  thence to  the  land  of 


APPENDIX  NO.  45.  387 

ye  Chinas  ...  of  Cathaio  oriental And  if  they  will  take 

their  course  after  they  be  past  the  pole  towarde  the  Occident, 
they  shall  goe  in  the  backe  side  of  the  new  found  lande,  which 
of  late  was  discovered  by  your  Grace's  subiectes,  untill  they 
come  to  the  backside  and  South  seas  of  the  Indies  occi  den- 
tall.  And  so  continuing  their  viage,  they  may  returne  thorowe 
the  Straite  of  Magallanos  to  this  countrey  ....  and  if  they 
goe  this  thirde  way,  and  after  they  bee  past  the  pole,  goe 
right  towarde  the  pole  Antartike,  and  then  decline  toward 
the  lands  and  Hands  situated  betweene  the  Tropikes  and  un- 
der the  Equinoctial.. ..and  may  returne  the  same  way."*  Hak- 
luyt,  I.  243. 


XLV. 

Pension  given  by  Edward  VI  to  Sebastian  Cabot. 

Edwardus  sextus  Dei  gratia  Anglise,  Francise,  et  Hibernise  rex 
omnibus  Christi  fidelibus  ad  quos  praesentes  hae  literae  nostrae 
pervenerint,  salutem.  Sciatis  quod  nos  in  consideratione  boni 
et  acceptabilis  servitij,  nobis  per  dilectum  servientem  nostrum 
Sebastianum  Cabotam  impensi  atque  impendendi,  de  gratia 
nostra  speciali,  ac  ex  certa  scientia,  et  mero  motu  nostro,  nee 
non  de  advisamento,  et  consensu  praeclarissimi  avunculi 
nostri  Edwardi  Ducis  Somerseti  personae  nostrae  Guberna- 
toris,  ac  Regnorum,  dominiorum  subditorumque  nostrorum 
protectoris,  et  caeterorum  consiliariorum  nostrorum,  dedimus 
et  concessimus,  ac  per  praesentes  damus  et  concedimus  eidem 
Sebastiano  Cabotae,  quandam  annuitatem  sive  annalem 
reditum  eidem  Sebastiano  Cabotae,  durante  vita  sua  naturali, 
de  thesauro  nostro  ad  receptum  scacarij  nostri  West  monastery 
per  manus  thesaurariorum  et  Camerariorum  nostrorum, 
ibidem  pro  tempore  existentium,  ad  festa  annuntiationis  be- 
atae   Mariae   Virginis,  nativitatis  sancti   Joannis  Baptistae, 

*  Robert  Thome  supposed,  like  many  others,  that  the  polar  seas  were  as 
easily  navigable  as  our  own. 


388  APPENDIX  NO.  46. 

sancti  Michaelis  Archangeli,  et  Natalis  Domini  per  aequales 
portiones  solvendum.  Et  ulterius  de  uberiori  gratia  nostra,  ac 
de  advisamento,  et  consensu  praedictis  damus,  et  per  praesen- 
tes  concedimus  praefato  Sebastiano  Cabotae,  tot  et  tantas  Den- 
ariorum  summas,  ad  quot  et  quantas  dicta  annuitas  sive  annalis 
reditus  centum  sexaginta  sex  librarum,  tresdecim  solidorum, 
et  quatuor  denariorum,  a  festo  sancti  Michaelis  Archangeli 
ultimo  praeterito  hue  usque  se  extendit,  et  attingit,  habendas 
et  recipiendas  praefato  Sebastiano  Cabotae  et  assignatis  suis  de 
thesauro  nostro  praedicto  per  manus  praedictorum  Thesaura- 
riorum,  et  Camerariorum  nostrorum  de  dono  nostro  absque 
computo,  seu  aliquo  alio  nobis,  haeredibus,  vel  successori  bus 
nostris  proinde  reddendo,  solvendo,  vel  faciendo  :  eo  quod 
expressa  mentio,  etc.  In  cuius  rei  testimonium  etc.  Teste 
Rege,  apud  Westmonasterium  6  die  Januarij,  anno  2.  Regis 
Edwardi  sexti."  Hakluyt,  III,  31.  Ed.  1600. 


XLVI. 


Dispatches  of  the   English   Ambassadors  on  the   request  for  Se- 
bastian Cabot's  return  to  Spain. 

25  Nov.  1549. 

And  farther  where  as  one  Sebastian  Gaboto  general  p[ilot] 
of  the  emperours  Indias  is  presently  in  England  forasmuch 
as  he  cannot  stand  the  King  your  Mr.  in  any  greate  [stead] 
seing  he  hath  smale  practise  in  these  sees  and  is  a  v  [erie] 
necessary  man  for  the  emperour  whose  servaunt  he  is  [and] 
hath  a  pencion  of  hym  his  matie  desyreth  sume  ordre[to]  be 
taken  for  his  sending  over  in  suche  sorte  as  his  [mates]  Ani- 
bassadour  shall  at  better  length  declare  unto  the  king  your 
Mr's  counsell. 

[Cotton  M.  Galba  B.  XII,  fo.  124.  Despatch  from  sir  Thos. 
Cheyne  and  sir  Phil.  Hoby,  English  ambassadors  to  Charles 
V»  to  the  Privy  Council.     Brussels,  25  nov.  1549]. 


APPENDIX  NO.  47  389 

XLVIL 

Reply  of  the  English  Ministers  to  the  request  to  send  back  Cabot 

And  as  for  Sebastian  Cabot  answere  was  first  made  to  the 
said  Amb.or  that  he  was  not  deteined  heere  by  us,  but  that  he 
of  himself  refused  to  go  either  into  Spayne  or  to  the  empor, 
and  that  he  being  of  that  mind  and  the  kinges  subiecte,  no 
reason  nor  equitie  wolde  that  he  shulde  be  forced  or  com- 
pelled to  go  against  his  will.  Upon  the  wch  aunswere,  the 
said  Amdor  said  that  if  this  were  Cabottes  aunswere  then  he 
required  that  the  said  Cabot  in  the  presence  of  some  one 
whom  we  could  appointe  might  spek  with  the  said  Ambdor 
and  declare  unto  him  this  to  be  his  mind  and  aunswere  wher- 
unto  we  condescended,  and  at  the  last,  sent  the  said  Cabot 
w*  Richard  Shelley  to  thembassador.  Who  as  the  said 
Shelley  hathe  made  report  to  us,  affirmed  to  the  said  Ambdor 
that  he  was  not  minded  to  go  neither  into  Spayne  nor  to 
themp or  Nevertheles  having  knowlege,  of  certain  thinges 
verie  necessarie  for  the  Empore  knowlege,  he  was  well  conten- 
ted for  the  good  well  he  bere  tiiempor  to  write  his  mind  unto 
him,  or  declare  the  same  here  to  enie  such  as  shulde  be  ap- 
pointed to  heare  him.  Wherunto  the  said  ambdor  asked  the 
said  Cabot,  in  case  the  kinges  matie  or  we  shuld  command 
him  to  go  to  thempor  whether  then  he  wold  not  do  it  ?  Wher- 
unto Cabot  made  aunswere  as  Shelley  reportethe  that  if  the 
kinges  highnes  or  we  did  command  him  so  to  do,  then  he 
knew  wel  moughe  what  he  had  to  do.  But  it  semeth  that 
the  ambdor  tooke  this  aunswere  of  Cabot  to  sound  as 
though  Cabot  had  aunswered,  that  being  commanded  by 
the  Kinges  highnes«or  us  that  then  he  wolde  be  contented  to 
go  to  the  empor  wherin  we  reken  the  said  Ambdor  to  be  deceived, 
forthat  the  said  Cabot  had  divers  times  before  declared  unto 
us  that  he  was  fullie  determined  not  to  go  hens  at  all. 
Grenewich,  21  april  1550.  The  counsail  to  sir  Ph.  II 
[British  Museum,  Harleyan  Mss.  523  f.  q.] 


390  APPENDIX  NO.  49. 

XLVIII. 

Letter  of  Charles  V  to  Mary  Tudor  for  Sebastian  Ct  bot's  return. 

Tres  haulte  tres  excellente  et  tres  puissante  princesse  nostre 
tres  chiere  et  tres  amee  bonne  seur  et  cousine.  Pour  ce  que  de- 
sirerions  commUniquer  aucuns  affaires  concernans  la  sheurete 
de  la  navigation  de  noz  Royaulmes  et  pays  avec  le  capitaine 
cabote  cidevant  pilote  de  noz  Royaulmes  de  Spaignes,  et  le 
quel  de  nostre  gre  et  consentement  sest  puis  ancune  annees 
passe  en  Angleterre  nous  vous  requerons  bien  affectueuse- 
mente,  donnei  conge  audit  cabote  et  luy  permecter  venir  de- 
vers  nous,  pour  avec  lui  communiquer  sur  ce  que  dessus.  Et 
vous  ferez  en  ce  tres  agreable  plesir  selon  qu'avons  en  charge 
a  nos  ambassadeurs  devers  vous  le  vous  declarer  plus  particu- 
lierement.  AtanL  tres  haulte  tres  excellente  et  tres  puissante 
princesse  nre.  chiere  et  tres  amee  bonne  seur  et  cousine  nous 
prions  le  createur  vous  avoir  en  sa  tres  saincte  et  digne  garde. 
A  Mons  en  Haynnau  le  IX e  de  septembre  1553. 
vre  bon  frere  et  cousin  Charles 

Baue 

A  tres  haulte  tres  excellente  et  tres  puissante  princesse  nre. 
tres  chiere  et  tres  amee  bonne  seur  et  cousine  la  Royne  dan- 
gleterre. 

M.  W.  B.  Turnbull,  Foreign  Calendars,  1553-58,  t.  i,  No. 
31,  p.  10. 


XLIX. 

Dispatch  of  the  Council  of  Ten  to  James  Soranzo,  Venetian  Ambas- 
sador to  England,  as  to  the  manner  of  sending  Sebastian  Cabot  to 
Venice,  12  September  1551. 

Per  le  lettere  vostre  de'  17  del  mese  passato  indriciate  alii 
Capi  del  Consiglio  nostro  di  Dieci,  havemo  inteso  quello  che  vi 
e  occorso  di  avvisarne  in  materia  del  fedelissimo  nostro  Seba- 


APPENDIX  NO.  50.  391 

stiano  Gaboto,  il  che  mi  e  stato  molto  grato,  et  vi  laudamo 
della  diligentia  che  avete  usato  in  darne  particolar  infor- 
matione  delle  qualita  et  conditioni  soe  :  in  risposta  delle  quali 
vi  dicemo  che  li  dobbiate  far  intendere  che  questa  sua  offerta 
ne  e  stata  gratissima,  usandole  quelle  bone  parole  che  vi  pare- 
rano  per  la  prudentia  vostra  ;  et  quanto  alia  richiesta  che  vi 
e  stata  fata  da  quei  signori  circa  li  crediti  che  pretende  et 
ricuperatione  de  beni,  li  risponderete  che  noi  desideramo  in 
tutto  quello  che  potemo  far  cosa  grata  a  aquella  Maesta,  ed 
a  loro  Signorie,  ma  che  non  essendo  il  detto  Caboto  co- 
nosciuto  da  alcuno  de  qui,  saria  neccessario  che  esso  medesimo 
venisse  per  giustificare  la  sua  persona  et  le  ragion  sue,  essendo 
quelle  cose  di  che  si  parla  molto  vecchie,  e  questo  istesso 
havemo  risposto  al  Magnifico  Ambasciator  di  quella  Maesta, 
il  quale  di  cio  ne  ha  fatto  instantia  in  conformita  delle  lettere. 
vostre,  pero  anchora  ed  esso  Gaboto  farete  intender  il  tutto. 
Con  questa  occasione  possa  dimandare  et  ottenere  la  licentia 
di  venire,  la  quale  vederete,  che  il  procuri  di  avere,  trasferen- 
dosi  di  qui  quanto  piu  presto  potra,  ne  restarete  pero  in  questo 
mezo  di  sforzarvi  di  intendere  da  lui  piu  avanti  quei  maggior 
particolari  che  potrete  dir,  e  il  disegno  suo  di  questa  naviga- 
tione,  dando  del  tutto  particolare  notitia  alii  capi 
+  25—2—0 
[Archivio  di  Stato,  Venezia,  Consiglio  dei  Dieci,  Parti  Se- 
crete, Filza  N.  8,  1551-54]. 


Dispatch  of  Peter  Vannes,  Ambassador  of  England  to  Venice,  on 
the  recommendations  in  favor  of  Sebastian  Cabot. 

To  the  Council 
....  Touching  Sebastian  Cabot's  matter,  concerning  which 
the  Venetian  Ambassador  has  also  written,  he  has  recom- 
manded  the  same  to  the  Seigniory,  and  in  their  presence  deli- 
vered to  one  of  their  secretaries    Baptista  Ramusio,  whom 


392  APPENDIX  NO.  51. 

cabot  put  in  trust,  such  evidences  as  came  to  his  ands.  The 
Seigniory  were  well  pleased  that  one  of  their  subjects  by  serv- 
ice and  virtue  should  deserve  the  Councils  good  will  and  fa- 
vour ;  and  although  this  matter  is  about  50  yars  old,  and  by 
the  death  of  men,  decaying  of  houses  and  perishing  of  writings, 
as  well  as  his  own  absence  it  were  hard  to  come  to  any  as- 
sured knowledge  thereof,  they  have  commanded  Ramusio  to 
eansearch  with  diligence  any  way  and  knowledge  possible 
that  may  stand  to  the  said  Sebastian's  profit  and  obtaining  of 
right. 

M.  W.m  B.  Turnbull,  [  Foreign  Calendar,  dra,  1861,  p.  171, 
N.  444  ]. 


LI. 

Extract  from  the  Narrative  of  Ramusio1  s  second  Anonymous  on  the 
Voyages  to  the  North- East  seas. 

Si  aveva  messo  in  fantasia  Sebastiano  Cabota  inglese,  nato 
di  padre  venetiano,  instrutto  prima  da  Giovanni  Caboto  suo 
padre,  e  molti  anni  col  pensier  discorso  haveva,  poter  essere 
che  qualche  passo  fosse  nel  mar  settentrionale,  per  il  quale  o 
di  verso  Levante  o  di  verso  Ponente  con  breve  navigatione  e 
facile  da  queste  nostre  parti  nel  grande  Oceano  Indico  passare 
si  potesse,  purche  dall'oppositione  di  qualche  terra  incognita 
esso  passo  impedito  non  fosse,  persuaso  ad  immaginarsi  questa 
cosa  cosi  dal  testimonio  d'  alcuni  authori  antiqui,  come  dall'- 
esperienza  de'  molti  moderni.  Gli  argomenti  che  movevano 
et  il  padre  et  il  figliuolo  a  credere,  che  questo  esser  potesse, 
erano  che  Plinio  servendosi  del  testimonio  di  Cornelio  Nepote 
scrive  che  dal  Re  di  Svetia  furon  donati  a  Metello  Celere  procon- 
sole  della  Gallia,  alcuni  mercadanti  Indiani,  che  erano  da  for- 
tuna  marittima  stati  trasportati  da'  lor  paesi  ne'  liti  di  Svetia. 
Dicono  ancora  trovasse  scritto,  che  a'  tempi  di  Ottone  Impe- 
ratore  fu  presa  nel  mar  settentrionale  Germanico  una  certa 
nave,  che  di  Levante  dalla  forza  de'  contrari  venti  vi  era  stata 
portata.  II  che  (  come  essi  affermano  )  a  modo  alcuno  far  non 


APPENDIX  No.  52.  :;<):; 

si  saria  potuto,  se  quel  mare  settentrionale  fosse  per  cagione  de' 
gran  freddi  e  ghiacci  semper  innavigabile.  Un  altro  argo- 
mento  ancora  havevano  ;  che  oltre  il  mar  Indico,  il  golfo  Gan- 
getico,  l'Aurea  Chersoneso,  over  Malacha,  e  la  provincia 
de  Sina,  et  oltra  le  navigation!  de'  Moderni,  sapevano  di  certo, 
che  questo  mare  Indico  era  posto  in  lunghezza  quasi  nel 
grado  180  et  in  larghezza  nel  25  grado,  poco  di  la  del  meri- 
diano  di  Tartaria,  e  delFamplissimo  imperio  del  Cathai  (qual 
da  naviganti  e  cercato,  come  scopo  e  premio  delle  fatiche  loro) 
e  considerando  come  e  quanto  questo  gran  mar  delle  Indie  si 
andasse  ogni  hor  piu  sotto  questo  meridiano  ingolfando  e  pie- 
gando  verso  sett entri one,  non  con  legger  coniettura,  ne  senza 
ragione  (  essendo  che  le  cose  incognite  possono  essere  cosi 
false  come  vere)  giudicavano  esser  verisimile,  che  se  il 
mar  nostro  settentrionale  o  di  verso  levante  o  di  verso  ponente 
si  distendesse  alia  volta  di  Mezo  giorno  se  particolarmente 
sotto  quell'istesso  meridiano,  sotto  il  quale  il  mar  Indico  verso 
settentrione  si  piega,  che  facilmente  sotto  V  istesso  meridiano 

col  mar  d'  India  congiungere  si  potrebbe Questi  sono 

i  principali  argomenti,  ne'  quali  Sebastian o  Cabota  confida- 
tosi,  persuase  agli  huomini  di  questi  paesi,  di  potersene  passare 
dal  mar  settentrionale  dalla  banda  di  Levante  (perciocche 
quella  di  Ponente  havevano  indarno  et  esso  et  il  padre  cer- 
cata  )  facilmente  et  in  curto  tempo  nell'  India  Orientale,  o 
almeno  di  giungere  nel  regno  del  Cathai,  di  dove  sperava 
ritornare  carico  di  oro,  di  gioie  e  di  speziarie. 

Ramusio,  2.a  Ediz.,  Venezia,  1606,  presso  i  Giunti,  vol.  ii, 
p.  212. 


LII. 

Extract  from  Lanquet's   Chronicle  on  the   Voyage  of  1553  to  the 

North- East. 

In  this  meane  whyle  there  were  three  noble  shyppes 
furnyshed  for  the  great  adventure  of  the  unknown  viage  into 
the  easte  by  the  north  seas.  The  great  encourager  of  this 


394  APPENDIX  NO.  54. 

viage  was  Sebastian  Gaboto,  an  englisheman,  borne  at  Bris- 
tow,  but  a  Genoways  sonne.  These  shyps  dyd  shortly  after 
passe  gallantly  by  Grenewiche  in  the  kinges  presence,  one  of 
the  mariners  Standyng  upon  the  mayne  topmaste  of  one  of 
them." 

[Lanquet,  Cooper  et  Crowley.  An  Epitome  of  cronicles,  Lon- 
don, Thomas  Marshe,  1559,  sub  anno  1553] . 


LIIL 

Extract  from  Grafton's  Chronicle  on  the  same  Voyage. 

About  this  time  there  were  three  noble  ships  set  forth  and 
furnished  for  the  great  adventure  of  the  unknowne  voyage  in- 
to the  East,  by  the  North  seas.  The  great  doer  and  encour- 
ager  of  which  voyage  was  Sebastian  Gaboto  an  Englishe  man, 
borne  at  Bristow,  but  was  the  sonne  of  a  Gen  o way.  These 
shipes  at  the  last  arrived  in  the  country  of  Muscovia,  not  with- 
out great  losse  and  danger,  and  namely  of  their  captain,  who 
was  a  worthy  and  adventerous  gentle  ma  called  sir  Hugh 
Willoughby,  Knight,  who  beyng  tossed  and  driven  by  tem- 
pest, hee  was  at  the  last  found  in  his  ship  frozen  to  death 
and  all  his  people.  But  now  the  said  voyage  and  trade  is 
greatly  advanced. .  . 
[Grafton,  A  Chronicle  at  large,  London,  1569,  sub  anno  1553.] 


LIV. 

Extract  from  HolinsheoVs  Chronicle  on  the  same  Voyage. 


Edward  VI 
An.  Reg.  6 


About  this  time  there  were  three  notable  ships 
set  forth  and  furnished  for  the  great  adventure  of 
the  unknowne  voyage  into  the  east  by  the  north  seas.  The 
great  doer  and  encourager  of  which  voiage  was  Sebastian 


APPENDIX  NO.  56  395 

Gaboto  an  Englishma  Lorn  at  Bristow,  but  was  the  son  of  a 
Genovvaies.  These  ships  at  the  last  arrived  in  the  countrie  of 
Moscovia  not  without  great  losse  and  danger,  and  namely  of 
their  captaine,  who  was  a  worthie  and  adventurous  gentleman 
called  sir  Hugh  Willoughby  knight  who  being  tossed  and 
driven  by  tempest,  he  was  at  the  last  founde  in  his  ship 
frosen  to  death  and  all  his  people.  But  now  the  sayde  voy- 
age and  trade  is   greatly  advanced  .  .  . 

[Holinshed,  The   Chronicles  of  Englande,  Scotlande,  and 
Irelande,  London,  1557,  t.  ii,  p.  1714,  sub  anno  1553]. 


LV. 

Extract  from  John  Stow's  Chronicle  on  the  same  Voyage. 


Edward  VI 
A.  D.   1553 


The  twentith  of  May,  by  the  encouragement  of 
one  Sebastian  Cabotte  three  great  ships  wel  furni- 
shed were  sette  forthe  for  the  adventure  of  the  unknown  voy- 
age to  Muscovia,  and  other  easte  partes  by  the  North  seas, 
divers  merchants  and  other  being  free  of  that  voyage,  yeelded 
towards  the  charges  of  the  same  five  and  twentie  pounds 
apeece.  Sir  George  Barnes  and  Sir  William  Garrard  being 
ye  principal  doers  therein. 

[Stow,  Chronicle,  Lond.  1580,  p.  1057]. 


LVI 

Cabot's  Instructions. 


Ordinances,  instructions,  and  advertisements  of  and  for 
the  direction  of  the  intended  voyage  for  Cathay,  compiled, 
made  and  delivered  by  the  right  worshipfull  M.  Sebastian 
Cabota  Esquier  governour  of  the  mysterie  and  companie  of 
the   Marchants   adventurers  for  the  discoverie  of  Regions, 


396  APPENDIX  NO.  56. 

Dominions,  Islands  and  places  unknowen,  the  9.  day  of  May, 
in  the  yere  of  Lord  God  1553  and  in  the  7.  yeere  of  the 
reigne  of  our  most  dread  soveraigne  Lord  Edward  the  6  by 
the  grace  of  God,  king  of  England,  Fraunce  and  Ireland, 
defender  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  Church  of  England  and  Ire- 
land, in  earth  supreame  head. 

First  the  Captaine  general,  with  the  pilot  maior,  the 
masters,  marchants  and  other  officers,  to  be  so  knit  and  ac- 
corded in  unitie,  love,  conformitie,  and  obedience  in  every 
degree  on  all  sides,  that  no  dissention,  variance,  or  contention 
may  rise  or  spring  betwixt  them  and  the  mariners  of  this 
companie,  to  the  damage  or  hinderance  of  the  voyage :  for 
that  dissention  (by  many  experiences)  hath  overthrown  many 
notable  intended  and  likely  enterprises  and  exploits. 

2  Item,  for  as  much  as  every  person  hath  given  an  othe  to 
be  true,  faithful],  and  loial  subjects,  and  liege  men  to  the 
kings  most  excellent  Maiestie,  his  heires  and  successors,  and 
for  the  observation  of  all  lawes  and  statutes,  made  for  the 
preservation  of  his  most  excellent  Maiestie,  and  his  crown 
Imperiall  of  his  realmes  of  England  and  Ireland,  and  to 
serve  his  Grace,  the  Kealme,  and  this  present  voyage  truely, 
and  not  to  give  up,  intermit  or  leave  off  the  said  voyage  and 
enterprise  untill  it  shalbe  accomplished,  so  farre  forth  as  pos- 
sibilitie  and  life  of  man  may  serve  or  extend  :  Therfore  it 
behoveth  every  person  in  his  degree,  as  well  for  conscience, 
as  for  dueties  sake  to  remember  his  said  charge,  and  the  ac- 
complishment thereof. 

3  Item,  where  furthermore  every  mariner  or  passenger  in 
his  ship  hath  given  like  othe  to  bee  obedient,  to  the  Captaine 
generall,  and  to  every  Captaine  and  master  in  his  ship,  for  the 
observation  of  these  present  orders  contained  in  this  booke, 
and  all  other  which  hereafter  shalbe  made  by  the  12  coun- 
sailers  in  the  present  book  named,  or  the  most  part  of  them, 
for  the  better  conduction,  and  preservation  of  the  fleete,  and 
atchieving  of  the  voyage,  and  to  be  prompt,  ready  and 
obedient  in  all  acts  and  feates  of  honesty,  reason,  and  duetie 
to  be  ministred,  shewed  and  executed,  in  advancement 
and  preferment  of  the  voyage  and  exploit  :  therefore  it  is 


APPENDIX  NO.   56.  397 

convenient  that  this  present  booke  shall  once  every  weeke 
(  by  the  discretion  of  the  Captaine  )  be  read  to  the  said  com- 
panie,  to  the  intent  that  every  man  may  the  better  remember 
his  othe,  conscience,  duetie  and  charge. 

4  Item,  every  person  by  vertue  of  his  othe,  to  doe  effectu- 
ally and  with  good  wil  ( as  farre  forth  as  him  shall  complie  ) 
all  and  every  such  act  and  acts,  deede  or  deeds,  as  shalbe  to 
him  or  them  from  time  to  time  commanded,  committed  and 
cnioyned  (during  the  voyage  )  by  the  Captain  generall,  with 
the  assent  of  the  Counsell  and  assistants,  as  well  in  and  dur- 
ing the  whole  Navigation  and  voyage,  as  also  in  discovering 
and  landing,  as  cases  and  occasions  shall  require. 

5  Item,  all  courses  in  Navigation  to  be  set  and  kept,  by  the 
advice  of  the  Captaine  Pilot  maior,  masters,  and  master 
mates,  with  the  assents  of  the  counsailersand  the  most  num- 
ber of  them  and  in  voyces  uniformely  agreeing  in  one  to  pre- 
vaile,  and  take  place,  so  that  the  Captaine  generall,  shall  in 
all  counsailes  and  assemblies  have  a  double  voyce. 

6  Item,  that  the  fleete  shall  keep  together,  and  not  sepa- 
rate themselves  asunder,  as  much  as  by  winde  and  weather 
may  be  done  or  permitted,  and  that  the  Captaines,  Pilots  and 
masters  shall  speedily  come  aboord  the  Admiral,  when  and  as 
often  as  he  shall  seeme  to  have  hist  cause  to  assemblee  them 
for  counsaile  or  consultation  to  be  had  concerning  the  affaires 
of  the  fleete  and  voyage. 

7  Item,  that  the  marchants,  and  other  skilful  persons  in 
writing,  shal  daily  write,  describe,  and  put  in  memorie  the  Na- 
vigation of  every  day  and  night,  with  the  points,  ond  obser- 
vation of  the  lands,  tides,  elements,  altitude  of  the  sunne, 
course  of  the  moon  and  starres,  and  the  same  so  noted  by  the 
order  of  the  Master  and  pilot  of  ever  ship  to  be  put  in  writ- 
ing the  captaine  generall  assembling  the  masters  together 
once  every  weeke  (if  winde  and  weather  shal  serve)  to 
conferre  all  the  observations  and  notes  of  the  said  ships,  to 
the  intent  it  may  appeare  wherein  the  notes  do  agree,  and 
wherein  they  dissent,  and  upon  good  debatement,  delibera- 
tion and  conclusion  determined,  to  put  the  same  into  a  com- 
mon leger,  to  remain  of  record  for  the  company:  the  like 


398  APPENDIX  NO.  56. 

order  to  be  kept  in  proportioning  of  the  Cardes,  Astrolabes, 
and  other  instruments  prepared  for  the  voyage,  at  the  charge 
of  the  companie. 

8  Item,  that  all  enterprises  and  exploits  of  discovering  or 
landing  to  search  lies,  regions  and  such  like,  to  be  searched 
and  attempted,  and  enterprised  by  good  deliberation  and 
common  assent,  determined  advisedly.  And  that  in  all  en- 
terprises, notable  ambassages,  suites,  requests,  or  presentement 
of  giftes,  or  presents  to  Princes,  to  be  done  and  executed 
by  the  captaine  generall  in  person,  or  by  such  other,  as  he  by 
common  assent  shall  appoint  or  assigne  to  doe  or  cause  to  be 
done  in  the  same. 

9  Item,  the  steward  and  cooke  of  every  ship,  and  their 
associats,  to  give  and  render  to  the  captaine  and  other  head 
officers  of  their  shippe  weekely  (or  oftner),  if  it  shall  seeme 
requisite,  a  iust  or  plaine  and  perfect  accompt  of  expense, 
of  the  victuals,  as  wel  flesh,  fish,  bisket,  meate,  or  bread 
as  also  of  beere,  wine,  oyle  or  vineger,  and  all  other  kinde 
of  victualling  under  their  charge,  and  they,  and  every  of 
them  so  to  order  and  dispende  the  same,  that  no  waste  or  un- 
profitable excesse  be  made  otherwise  then  reason  and  ne- 
cessitie  shall  command. 

10  Item,  when  any  inferiour  or  meane  officer  of  what  degree 
or  condition  he  shalbe,  shalbe  tried  untrue,  remisse,  negligent, 
or  unprofitable  in  or  about  his  office  in  the  voyage,  or  not  to 
use  him  selfe  in  his  charge  accordingly,  then  every  such 
officer  to  be  punished  or  removed  at  the  discretion  of  the 
captaine  and  assistants,  or  the  most  part  of  them,  and  the 
person  so  removed  not  to  be  reputed,  accepted,  or  taken  from 
the  time  of  his  remove,  any  more  for  an  officer,  but  to  remaine 
in  such  condition  and  place,  as  hee  shall  be  assigned  unto, 
and  none  of  the  companie,  to  resist  such  chastisement  or 
worthie  punishment,  as  shalbe  ministred  unto  him  moderately, 
according  to  the  fault  or  desert  of  his  offence,  after  the  lawes 
and  common  customes  of  the  seas,  in  such  cases  heretofore 
used  and  observed. 

11  Item,  if  any  Mariner  or  officer  inferiour  shalbe  found  by 
his  labour  not  meete  nor  worthie  the  place  that  he  is  presently 


APPENDIX  NO.  56.  399 

shipped  for,  such  person  may  bee  unshipped  and  put  on 
lande  at  any  place  within  the  kings  Maiesties  realme  and  do- 
minion, and  one  other  person  more  able  and  more  worthy  to 
be  put  in  his  place,  at  the  decretion  of  the  captaine  and  mas- 
ters, and  order  to  be  taken  that  the  partie  dismissed  shalbe 
allowed  proportionably  the  value  of  that  he  shall  have 
deserved  to  the  time  of  his  dismission  or  discharge,  and  he  to 
give  order  with  sureties,  pawn,  or  other  assurance,  to  re- 
pay the  overplus  of  that  he  shall  have  received,  which 
he  shall  not  have  deserved,  and  such  wages  to  be  made  with 
the  partie  newly  placed  as  shalbe  thought  reasonable, 
and  he  to  have  the  furniture  of  al  such  necessaries  as  were 
prepared  for  the  partie  dismissed,  according  to  right  and 
conscience. 

12  Item,  that  no  blaspheming  of  God,  or  detestable  swea- 
ring be  used  in  any  ship,  nor  communication  of  ribaldrie, 
filthy  tales,  or  ungodly  talke  to  be  suffred  in  the  company  of 
any  ship,  neither  dicing,  carding,  tabling,  nor  other  divelish 
games  to  be  frequented,  whereby  ensueth  not  onely  povertie 
to  the  players,  but  also  strife,  wariance,  brauling,  fighting, 
and  oftentimes  murther  to  the  utter  destruction  of  the  parties 
and  provoking  of  Gods  most  iust  wrath,  and  sworde  of 
vengeance.  These  and  all  such  like  pestilences,  and  con- 
tagions of  vices,  and  sinnes  to  bee  eschewed,  and  the  offenders 
once  monished,  and  not  reforming,  to  bee  punished  at  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  captaine  and  master,  as  appertaineth. 

13  Item,  that  morning  and  evening  prayer,  with  other  com- 
mon services  appointed  by  the  kings  Maiestie,  and  lawes 
of  this  Eealme  to  be  read  and  saide  in  every  ship  daily 
by  the  minister  in  the  Admirall,  and  the  marchant  or  some 
other  person  learned  in  other  ships,  and  the  Bible  or  par- 
aphrases to  be  read  devoutly  and  Christianly  to  Gods  honour, 
and  for  his  grace  to  be  obtained  and  had  by  humble  and 
heartie  praier  of  the  Navigants  accordingly. 

14  Item,  that  every  officer  is  to  be  charged  by  inventorie 
with  the  particulars  of  his  charge,  and  to  render  a  perfect  ac- 
compt  of  the  diffraying  of  the  same  together  with  modest, 
and  temperate  dispending  of  powder,  shot,  and  use  of  all 


400  APPENDIX  NO.  56. 

kinde  of  artillery,  which  is  not  to  be  misused,  but  diligently 
to  be  preserved  for  the  necessary  defence  of  the  fleete  and 
voyage,  together  with  due  keeping  of  all  instruments  of  your 
Navigation  and  other  requisites. 

15  Item,  no  liquor  to  be  spilt  on  the  balast,  nor  firthines  to 
be  left  within  boord:  the  cook  room,  and  all  other  places  to  be 
kept  cleane  for  the  better  health  of  the  companie,  the  gro- 
mals  and  pages  to  bee  brought  up  according  to  the  laudable 
order  and  use  of  the  Sea,  as  well  in  learning  of  Navigation, 
as  in  exercising  of  that  which  to  them  appertaineth. 

16  Item,  the  liveries  in  apparel  given  to  the  mariners  be 
to  be  kept  by  the  marchants,  and  not  to  be  worne,  but  by  the 
order  of  the  captaine,  when  he  shall  see  cause  to  muster  or 
shewe  them  in  good  aray,  for  the  advancement  and  honour 
of  the  voyage,  and  the  liveries  to  bee  redelivered  to  the  keep- 
ing of  the  marchants,  untill  it  shall  be  thought  convenient  for 
every  person  to  have  the  ful  use  of  his  garment. 

17  Item,  when  any  mariner  or  any  other  passenger  shal 
have  neede  of  any  necessarie  furniture  of  apparell  for  his  body, 
and  conservation  of  his  health,  the  same  shall  bee  delivered 
him  by  the  Marchant,  at  the  assignement  of  the  captaine  and 
Master  of  that  shippe,  wherein  such  needie  person  shall  be, 
at  such  reasonable  price  as  the  same  cost,  without  any  game 
to  be  exacted  by  the  marchants,  the  value  therof  to  be 
entred  by  the  marchant  in  his  booke,  and  the  same  to  be 
discounted  off  the  parties  wages,  that  so  shal  receive,  and 
weare  the  same. 

18  Item,  the  sicke,  diseased,  weake,and  visited  person  within 
boord,  to  be  tendred,  relieved,  comforted  and  holpen  in  the 
time  of  his  infirmitie,  and  every  maner  of  person,  without 
respect,  to  beare  anothers  burden,  and  no  man  to  refuse  such 
labour  as  shall  be  put  to  him  for  the  most  benefite,  and  publike 
wealth  of  the  voyage,  and  enterprise,  to  be  atchieved  exactly. 

19  Item,  if  any  person  shal  fortune  to  die,  or  miscary  in  the 
voyage,  such  apparell,  and  other  goods,  as  he  shall  have  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  is  to  be  kept  by  the  order  of  the  captaine 
and  Master  of  the  shippe  and  an  inventorie  to  be  made  of  it, 
and  conserved  to  the  use  of  his  wife,  and  children,  or  other- 


APPENDIX  NO    56.  401 

wise  according  to  his  mind,  and  wil,  and  the  day  of  his  death 
to  be  entred  in  the  Marchants  and  Stewards  bookes  :  to  the 
intent  it  may  be  knowen  what  wages  he  shall  have  deserved 
to  his  death,  and  what  shall  rest  due  to  him. 

20  Item,  that  the  Marchants  appointed  for  this  present  vo- 
yage, shall  not  make  any  shew  or  sale  of  any  kind  of  marchan- 
dizes,  or  open  their  commodities  to  any  forrein  princes,  or  any 
of  their  subiects,  without  the  consent,  privitie  or  agreement 
of  the  Captaines,  the  cape  Marchants  and  the  assistants,  or 
foure  of  them,  whereof  the  captaine  general],  the  Pilot  Maior, 
and  cape  Marchant  to  be  three,  and  every  of  the  pettie 
marchants  to  shewe  his  reckoning  to  the  cape  marchant  when 
they,  or  any  of  them  shall  be  required  :  and  no  commutation 
or  trucke  to  be  made  by  any  of  the  pettie  marchants,  without 
the  assent  abovesaid:  and  all  wares,  and  commodities  trucked, 
bought  or  given  to  the  companie,  by  way  of  merchandise, 
trucke,  or  any  other  respect,  to  be  booked  by  the  marchants, 
and  to  be  wel  ordred,  packed,  and  conserved  in  one  masse  en- 
tirely, and  not  to  be  broken  or  altered,until  the  shippes shall  re- 
turne  to  the  right  discharges,  and  inventorie  of  al  goods,  wares, 
and  merchandises  so  trucked,  bought,  or  otherwise  dispended, 
to  be  presented  to  the  Governor,  Consuls,  and  assistants  in 
London,  in  good  order,  to  the  intent  the  Kings  Maiestie  may 
be  truly  answered  of  that  which  to  his  grace  by  his  grant  of 
corporation  is  limited,  according  to  our  most  bound  dueties, 
and  the  whole  companie  also  to  have  that  which  by  right 
unto  them  appertaineth,  and  no  embezelment  shall  be  used, 
but  the  truth  of  the  whole  voyage  to  bee  opened,  to  the  com- 
mon wealth  and  benefite  of  the  whole  companie,  and  mysterie, 
as  appertaineth,  without  guile,  fraude,  or  male  engine. 

21  Item,  no  particulier  person,  to  hinder  or  preiudicate  the 
common  stocke  of  the  company,in  sale  or  preferment  of  his  own 
proper  wares,  and  things,  and  no  particular  emergent  or  pur- 
chase to  be  employed  to  any  several  profite,  until  1  the  com- 
mon stocke  of  the  companie  shall  be  furnished,  and  no  person 
to  hinder  the  common  benefite  in  such  purchases  or  contin- 
gents, as  shal  fortune  to  any  one  of  them,  by  his  owne  proper 
policie,  Industrie,  or  chance,  nor  no  contention  to  rise  in  that 

26 


402  APPENDIX  NO.  56. 

behalfe,  by  any  occasion  of  iewel,  stone,  pearles,  precious 
mettals,  or  other  things  of  the  region,  where  it  shall  chance 
the  same  to  rise,  or  to  be  found,  bought,  trucked,  permuted,  or 
given:  but  every  person  to  be  bounden  in  such  case,  and  up- 
on such  occasion,  by  order,  and  direction,  as  the  Generall 
Captaine,  and  the  Councell  shall  establish  and  determine,  to 
whose  order  and  discretion  the  same  is  left :  for  that  of 
things  uncertaine,  no  certaine  rules  may  or  can  be  given. 

22  Item,  not  to  disclose  to  any  nation  the  state  of  our  reli- 
gion, but  to  passe  it  over  in  silence,  without  any  declaration  of 
it,  seeming  to  beare  with  such  lawes,  and  rites,  as  the  place 
hath,  where  you  shall  arrive. 

23  Item,  for  as  much  as  our  people,  and  shippes  may  ap- 
peare  unto  them  strange  and  wonderous,  and  theirs  also  to 
ours  :  it  is  to  be  considered,  how  they  may  be  used,  learning 
much  of  their  natures  and  dispositions,  by  some  one  such  per- 
son, as  you  may  first  either  allure,  or  take  to  be  brought  aboord 
your  ships,  and  there  to  learne  as  you  may,  without  violence 
or  force,  and  no  woman  to  be  tempted,  or  intreated  to  incon- 
tinencie,  or  dishonestie. 

24  Item,  the  person  so  taken,  to  be  well  entertained,  used 
and  apparelled,  to  be  set  on  land,  to  the  intent  that  he  or  she 
may  allure  other  to  draw  nigh  to  shewe  the  commodities  : 
and  if  the  person  taken  may  be  made  drunke  with  yourbeere, 
or  wine,  you  shal  know  the  secrets  of  his  heart. 

25  Item,  our  people  may  not  passe  further  into  a  land,  then 
that  they  may  be  able  to  recover  their  pinnesses,  or  ships,  and 
not  to  credit  the  faire  words  of  the  strange  people,  which  be 
many  times  tried  subtile  and  false,  nor  to  be  drawen  into  per- 
ill  of  losse,  for  the  desire  of  golde,  silver,  or  riches,  and  esteeme 
your  Owne  commodities  above  al  other,  and  in  countenance 
shew  not  much  to  desire  the  forren  commodities  nevertheless 
take  them  as  for  friendship,  or  by  way  of  permutation. 

26  Item,  every  nation  and  region  is  to  be  considered  advi- 
sedly, and  not  to  provoke  them  by  any  disdaine,  laughing,  con- 
tempt, or  such  like,  but  to  use  them  with  prudent  circum- 
spection, with  al  gentlenes  and  curtesie,  and  not  to  tary  long 
in  one  place,  untill  you  shall  have  attained  the  most  worthy 


APPENDIX  NO.  56.  403 

place  *  may  be  found,  in  such  sort,  as  you  may  returne  lw  vic- 
tuals sufficient  prosperously. 

27  Item,  the  names  of  the  people  of  every  Island,  are  to  be 
taken  in  writing,  with  the  commodities  and  incommodities  of 
the  same,their  natures,  qualities  and  dispositions,the  site  of  the 
same,  and  what  things  they  are  most  desirous  of,  and  what 
commodities  they  wil  most  willingly  depart  with,  and  what 
mettals  they  have  in  hils,  mountaines,  streames,  or  rivers, 
in  or  under  the  earth. 

28  Item,  if  people  shal  appeare  gathering  of  stones,  gold 
mettall,  or  other  like,  on  the  sand,  your  pinnesses  may  drawe 
nigh,  marking  what  things  they  gather,  using  or  playing  upon 
the  drumme,  or  such  other  instruments,  as  may  allure  them 
to  barkening,  to  fantasie,  or  desire  to  see,  and  heare  your  in- 
struments and  voyces,  but  keepe  you  out  of  danger,  and  shewe 
to  them  no  poynt  or  signe  of  rigour  and  hostilitie. 

29  Item,  if  you  shall  be  invited  into  any  Lords  or  Rulers 
house,  to  dinner,  or  other  parliance,  goe  in  such  order  of 
strength,  that  you  may  be  stronger  then  they,  and  be  warie  of 
woods  and  ambushes,  and  that  your  weapons  be  not  out  of 
your  possessions. 

30  Item,  if  you  shall  see  them  weare  Lyons  or  Beares 
skinnes,  having  long  bowes,  and  arrowes,  be  not  afraid  of  that 
sight  :  for  such  be  worne  oftentimes  more  to  feare  strangers, 
then  for  any  other  cause. 

31  Item,  there  are  people  that  can  swimme  in  the  sea, 
havens,  and  rivers,  naked,  having  bowes  and  shafts,  coveting 
to  draw  nigh  your  ships,  which  if  they  shal  finde  not  wel 
watched,  or  warded,  they  wil  assault,  desirous  of  the  bodies  of 
men,  which  they  covet  for  meate  ;  if  you  resist  them,  they 
dive,  and  so  wil  flee,  and  therefore  diligent  watch  is  to  be  kept 
both  day  and  night,  in  some  Islands. 

32  Item,  if  occasion  shal  serve,  that  you  may  give 
advertisements  of  your  proceedings  in  such  things  as 
may  correspond  to  the  expectation  of  the  company,  and 
likelihood  of  successe  in  the  voyage,  passing  such  dan- 
gers of  the  seas,  perils  of  ice,  intollerable  coldes,  and 
other     impediments,      which     by     sundry      authors     and 


404  APPENDIX  NO.  56. 

writers,  have  ministred  matter  of  suspition  in  some  heads  that 
this  voyage  could  not  succede  for  the  extremitie  of  the  North 
pole,  lacke  of  passage,  and  such  like,  which  have  caused 
wavering  minds,  and  doubtful  heads,  not  onely  to  withdraw 
themselves  from  the  adventure  of  this  voyage,  but  also  dis- 
s waded  others  from  the  same,  the  certaintie  wherof,  when  you 
shall  have  tried  by  experience,  (  most  certaine  Master  of  all 
worldly  knowledge)  then  for  declaration  of  the  trueth,  which 
you  shall  have  experted,  you  may  by  common  assent  of  coun- 
sell,  sende  either  by  land,  or  otherwaies,  such  two  or  one  per- 
son, to  bring  the  same  by  credite,  as  you  shal  think  may 
passe  in  safetie  :  which  sending  is  not  be  done,  but  upon  urgent 
causes,  in  likely  successe  of  the  voyage,  in  finding  of  passage, 
in  towardlines  of  beneficiall  traffike,  or  such  other  like,  where- 
by the  company  being  advertised  of  your  estates  and  pro- 
ceedings, may  further  provide,  foresee,  and  determine  that 
which  may  seeme  most  good  and  beneficiall  for  the  publike 
wealth  of  the  same  :  either  providing  before  hand  such  things, 
as  shall  bee  requisite  for  the  continuance  of  the  voyage,  or  else 
otherwise  to  dispose  as  occasion  shall  serve  :  in  which  things 
your  wisedomes  and  discretions  are  to  be  used,  and  shewed, 
and  the  contents  of  this  capitule,  by  you  much  to  be  pondred, 
for  that  you  be  not  ignorant,  how  many  persons,  as  well  the 
kings  Maiestie,  the  Lords  of  his  honorable  Counsel,  this  whole 
companie,  as  also  your  wives,  children,  kinsfolkes,  allies, 
friends  and  familiars,  be  replenished  in  their  hearts  with  ar- 
dent desire  to  learne  and  know  your  estates,  conditions,  and 
welfares,  and  in  what  likelihood  you  be  in,  to  obtain  this  no- 
table enterprise,  which  is  hoped  no  lesse  to  succeed  to  you, 
then  the  orient  or  Occident  Indias  have  to  the  high  benefite 
of  the  Empereur,  and  kings  of  Portugal,  whose  subiects  in- 
dustries, and  travailes  by  sea,  have  inriched  them,  by  those 
lands  and  Islands,  which  were  to  all  Cosmographers,  and  other 
writers  both  unknowne,  and  also  by  apparances  of  reason  voide 
of  experience  thought  and  reputed  unhabitable  for  extremities 
of  heates,  and  colds,  and  yet  indeed  tried  most  rich,  peopled, 
temperate,  and  so  commodious,  as  all  Europe  hath  not  the 
like. 


APPENDIX  NO.  56.  405 

33  Item,  no  conspiracies,  parttakings,  factions,  false  tales, 
untrue  reports,  which  be  the  very  seedes,  and  fruits  of  conten- 
tion, discord  and  confusion,  by  evill  tongues  to  be  suffered,  but 
the  same,  and  all  other  ungodlines  to  be  chastened  charitably 
with  brotherly  love,  and  alwaies  obedience  to  be  used  and 
practised  by  al  persons  in  their  degrees,  not  only  for  duetie 
and  conscience  sake  towards  God,  under  whose  mercifull  hand 
navigants  above  all  other  creatures  naturally  bee  most  nigh, 
and  vicine,  but  also  for  prudent  and  worldy  pollicie,  and  pub- 
like weale,  considering  and  alwaies  having  present  in  your 
mindes  that  you  be  all  one  most  royall  kings  subiects,  and 
naturals,  with  daily  remembrance  of  the  great  importance  of 
the  voyage,  the  honour,  glorie,  praise,  and  benefite  that  de- 
pend of,  and  upon  the  same,  toward  the  common  wealth  of 
this  noble  Realme  the  advancement  of  you  the  travailers 
therein,  your  wives,  and  children,  and  so  to  endevour  your 
selves  as  that  you  may  satisfie  the  expectation  of  them,  who 
at  their  great  costs,  charges,  and  expenses,  have  so  furnished 
you  in  good  sort,  and  plentie  of  all  necessaries,  as  the  like  was 
never  in  any  realme  seene,  used,  or  knowen  requisite  and 
needful  for  such  an  exploit,  which  is  most  likely  to  be  at- 
chieved,  and  brought  to  good  effect  if  every  person  in  his 
vocation  shall  endevour  himselfe  according  to  his  charge,  and 
most  bounden  duetie  :  praying  the  living  God,  to  give  you 
his  grace,  to  accomplish  your  charge  to  his  glorie,  whose 
merciful  hand  shal  prosper  your  voyage,  and  preserve  you 
from  all  dangers. 

In  witnes  whereof  I  Sebastian  Gabota,  Governour  aforesaide, 
to  these  persent  ordinances  have  subscribed  my  name,  and  put 
my  seale,  the  day  and  yeere  above  written. 

The  names  of  the  twelve  Counsellors  appointed  in  this 
voyage. 


406  APPENDIX  NO.  58. 


LVII. 

Appointment  of  Sebastian    Cabot  as    Governor  of  the  Company 
of  Merchant  Adventurers,  26  Feb.  1555. 

Febr.  26  1555.  Westminster. 

Letters  patent  constituting  William  marquis  of  Westminster 
and  others  a  body  corporate,  by  name  of  Merchant  Advent- 
urers of  England  for  discovery  of  lands,  territories  etc.  un- 
known and  not  before  frequented  etc.  S[ebastian]  C[abot]  to 
be  the  first  Governor. 

[R.  Lemon,  Calendar  of  Domestic  State  Papers,  1547-80. 
T.  L.  p.  65]. 


LVI1I. 

Queen  Mary's  Confirmation  of  the  pension  for  life  to  Sebastian  Cabot. 

Anno  D.  1555. 

Rex  et  Regina,  Omnibus  ad  quos,  etc.  salutem. 

Sciatis  quod  nos, 

De  gratia  nostra  speciali,  ac  ex  certa  scientia  et  mero  Motu 

nostris,  nee  non  in  consideratione  boni  veri  et  acceptabilis  ser- 

vitii  Nobis,  per  dilectum  servientem  nostrum    Sebastianum 

Caboto  armigerum  ante  hac  impensi  et  imposterum  impen- 

dendi, 

Dedimus  et  concessimus,  ac  per  Praesentes  pro  nobis  Hae- 
redibus  et  Successoribus  nostris,  damus  et  concedimus  prae- 
fato  Sebastiano,  quandam  Annuitatem  sive  annualem  Red- 
ditum  centum  sexaginta  sex  librarum  tresdecim  solidorum  et 
quatuor  denariorum  legalis  monetae  angliae, 

Habendam  gaudendam  et  annuatim  percipiendam  eandem 


APPENDIX  NO.  59.  407 

Annuitatem  sive  Annualem  Reditum  centum  sexaginta  sex 
librarum  tresdecim  solidorum  et  quattuor  denariorum  prae- 
fato  Sebastiano  et  Assignatis  suis,  a  festo  Annunciation  is 
beatae  Virginis  ultimo  praeterito,  ad  terminum  et  pro  termino 
Vitae  eiusdem  Sebastiani  de  Thesauro  nostro  Haeredum  et 
Successorum  nostrorum  per  manus  Thesaurari  et  Camera- 
riorum  nostrorum  Haeredum  et  Successorum  nostrorum  ibidem 
pro  tempore  existentium,  ad  festa  Nativitatis  Sancti  Johannis 
Baptisstae,  Sancti  Michaelis  Archangeli,  Natalis  Domini  et 
Annunciationis  beatae  Mariae  Virginis,  per  aequales  Portio- 
nes  annuatim  solvendam  ;  prima  solutione  inde  incipiente  ad 
festum  Nativitatis  Sancti  Johannis  Baptistae  ultimo  prae- 
terito ; 

Eo  quod  expressa  mentio  etc. 

In  cuius  rei  etc 

Teste  Rege  et  Regina  apud  Saint  James  XXVII.  Die  No- 
vembris. 

Per  breve  de  Privato  sigillo — Rymer,  XV,  427. 


LIX. 

Decree  of  Quern  Mary,  dividing  the  pension  of  Sebastian   Cabot 
vrith  William  Worthington. 

Anno  D.  1557. 

Rex  et  Regina  omnibus  ad  quos  etc.  salutem. 

Cum  nos,  per  Literas  nostras  Patentes  gerentes  datam  apud 
voestem.  vicesimo  septimo  die  No  vembris  annis  Regnorum 
nostrorum  secundo  et  tertio,  de  gratia  nostra  speciali,  ac  ex 
certa  scientia  et  mero  Motu  nostris,  necnon  in  consideratione 
boni  veri  et  acceptabilis  servitii  nobis  per  dilectum  servientem 
nostrum  Sebastianum  Caboto  Armigerum  antea  impensi  et 
tunc  in  posterum  impendendi,  pro  Nobis  Haeredibus  et  Suc- 
cessoribus  nostris  dederimus    et  concesserimus  praefato  Se- 


408  APPENDIX  NO,  59. 

bastiano  quandam  Annuitatem  sive  annuaiem  Reditum  cen- 
tum sexaginta  sex  Librarum  tresdecim  solidorum  et  quatuor 
Denariorum  legalis  Monetae  Angliae, 

Habendam  gaudendam  et  annuatim  percipiendam  eandem 
Annuitatem  sive  annuaiem  Redditum  centum  sexaginta  sex 
Librarum  tresdecim  solidorum  et  quatuor  Denariorum  prae- 
fato  Sebastiano  et  assignatis  suis  a  festo  Annunciationis  be- 
atae  Mariae  Virginis,  tunc  ultimo  praeterito  ad  milium  et  pro 
Termino  Vitae  eiusdem  Sebastiani  de  Thesauro  nostro  Hae- 
redum  et  successorum  nostrorum  per  maims  Thesaurari  et 
Camerariorum  nostrorum  ibidem  pro  tempore  existentium 
ad  festa  Nativitatis  Sancti  Johannis  Baptistae,  et  Sancti  Micha- 
elis  Archangeli,  Natalis  Domini,  et  Annunciationis  Beatae 
Mariae  Virginis  per  aequales  Portiones  annuatim  solvendam, 
prima  solutione  inde  incipiente  ad  Festum  Nativitatis  Sancti 
Johannis  Baptistae  tunc  ultimo  praeterito,  prout  in  dictis 
Literis  Patentibus  inter  alia  plenius  continetur. 

Quas  quidem  Litteras  Patentes  praefatus  Sebastianus  Caboto 
nobis  in  Cancellariam  nostram  sursum  reddidit  et  restituit 
cancellandas,  et  ibidem  jam  cancellatae  existunt,  prout  certain 
inde  habemus  notitiam,  ea  tamen  intentione  quod  nos,  alias 
literas  nostras  patentes  de  Annuitate  praedicta  eidem  Se- 
bastiano et  dilecto  servienti  nostro  Wilielmo  Worthington 
Armigero  ac  eorum  alteri  diutius  viventis  in  forma  sequente 
facere  et  concedere  dignaremur  * 

Sciatis  igitur  quod  Nos  pro  considerationibus  praedictis  nee 
non  in  consideratione  boni  veri  et  fidelis  servitii  Nobis,  per  di- 
lectos  servientes  nostros  Sebastianum  Caboto  et  Willielmum 
Worthington  Armigeros  ante  hac  impensi  et  in  posterum 
impendendi,  de  Gratiis  nostris  specialisms,  ac  ex  certis  scien- 
tiis  et  meris  Motibus  nostris,  dedimus  et  concessimus,  ac  per 
Praesentes,  pro  Nobis  Haeredibus  et  Successoribus  nostrum 
praefatae  Reginae  damus  et  concedimus  eisdem  Sebastiano  et 
Willielmo  ac  eorum  alteri  diutius  viventis,  dictam  Annuita- 
tem sive  annuaiem  Redditum  centum  sexaginta  sex  librarum 
tresdecim  solidorum  et  quattuor  Denariorum  legalis  Monetae 
Angliae, 

Habendam  gaudendam  et  annuatim  percipiendam  eandem 


APPENDIX  NO    59.  409 

annuitatem  sive  annualem  Redditum  centum  sexaginta  sex 
Librarum  tresdecim  solidorum  et  quatuor  Denariorum  praefa- 
tis  Sebastiano  Caboto  et  Willielmo  Worthington  ac  eorum 
alteri  diutius  viventis  et  assignatis  suis,  ac  assign atis  eorum 
alterius  diutius  viventis,  a  festo  Annunciationis  beatae  Ma- 
riae  Virginis  ultimo  praeterito  ad  Terminum  et  pro  Termino 
Vitarum  eorumden  Sebastiani  et  Willielmi,  ac  eorum  alterius 
diutius  viventis.  de  Thesauro  nostro,  Haeredum  et  Successo- 
rum  nostrorum  dictae  Reginae,  ad  Preceptam  sacarii  nostri 
Westum.  Haeredum  et  Successorum  nostrorum  dictae  Re- 
ginae, ibidem  pro  tempore  existentium  ad  festa  Nativitatis 
Sancti  Johannis  Baptistae,  Sancti  Michaelis  Archangeli,  Nata- 
lis  Domini,  et  Annunciationis  beate  Mariae  Virginis,  per  ae- 
quales  portiones  annuatim  solvendam  ; 

Eo  quod  expressa  mentio,  etc. 

In  cuius  rei  etc. 

Teste  Rege  et  Regina  apud  Westmonasterium  vicesimo 
nono  die  Mai. 

Per  Breve  de  Privato  Sigillo. — Rymer,  XV,  466 


The  End. 


\mmmm 


LIFE    OF    CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

BY     FRANCESCO    TARDUCCI, 
AFTER  THE  LATEST  DOCUMENTS. 

TRANSLATED  FROM  ITALIAN  BY 

HENRY     F.    BROWNSON. 


Two  volumes  in  one,  8vo.  cloth,     -     -     -     -     $3.00. 

Sent  post-paid  on  receipt  of  this  price. 


DETROIT,  MICH. : 

PUBLISHED   BY  H    F.  BROWNSON. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  REVIEWS  OF  TARDUCCI'S  LIFE  OF  COLUMBUS. 

The  Boston  Transcript  :  Mr.  Henry  F.  Brownson's  transla- 
tion of  Tarducci's  "Life  of  Christopher  Columbus"  is  a  work  admir- 
ably written,  absolute  in  its  facts,  clear  in  its  details,  and  authorita- 
tive in  its  statements. 

.     .     .     .  Although  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Columbus,  Tarducci 
shows  the  utmost  impartiality  in  estimating  his  character  and  acts. 

The  translation  is  a  remarkably  faithful  one,  and  merits  a  per- 
manent place  in  historical  literature. 

The  Boston  Herald  :  We  wish  to-day  to  bring  out  the  per- 
sonality of  Columbus,  so  far  as  it  can  be  done,  into  a  stronger 
and  clearer  light,  and  Sig.  Tarducci's  work  has  the  rare  distinction 
of  rendering  this  service.  He  is  more  anxious  to  tell  the  truth 
about  his  hero  than  to  make  a  brilliant  story,  and  by  this  means  he 
places  in  our  hands  the  facts  which  are  most  interesting  concerning 
Columbus,  and  is  able  to  vouch  for  their  truth.  It  is  really  a  great 
biography  which  he  has  produced,  and  we  cannot  but  be  grateful 
to  Major   Brownson  for  having  given  the  American  public  a  trans- 


11  ADVERTISEMENT. 

lation  of  this  important  work  at  the  time  when  the  people  are 
demanding  an  authentic  history  of  Columbus,  and  of  the  meth- 
ods by  which  he  was  led  to  realize  the  great  aim  of  his  life. 
The  translator  deserves  the  thanks  of  those  who  are  interested 
in  the  great  celebration,  and  this  work  is  the  one  which  deals  with 
the  great  fact  which  we  are  to  celebrate  in  the  form  of  a  personal 
history. 

The  Literary  World  :  On  the  eve  of  the  iourth  centennial  of 
the  discovery  of  America  by  Columbus,  it  appears  most  fitting  and 
a  happy  augury  for  both  nations,  that  an  admirable  biography 
should  be  written  in  Italy  and  rendered  available  for  the  United 
States. 

.  .  .  .  The  author  of  this  most  complete  monograph  belongs 
to  the  purists — faithful  sentinels  of    the  Italian  language. 

The  purity  and  vitality  of  his  idiom  are  apparent  even  in  the  Eng- 
lish translation.  Mr.  Brownson  has  well  apprehended  the  qualities 
of  the  original  work,  and  faithfully  conveyed  them  so  far  as  the 
spirit  of  a  diverse  speech  permitted.  . .  This  biography  of  Columbus 
is  written  in  the  modern  temper,  which,  first  of  all,  desires  to  paint 
the  portrait  of  the  man  as  he  existed,  rather  than  to  catalogue  his 
deeds. .  .  The  candid  temper  of  the  author  admits  the  shadows 
through  which  a  portrait   assumes  the   appearance  of  lite. 

The  N.  Y.  Sun  :  Prof.  Tarducci's  interesting  book  does  justice 
alike  to  his  (Columbus's)  magnificent  conception  of  what  the  earth 
had  to  yield  in  the  path  of  discovery,  his  extraordinary  energy  even 
under  the  most  distressing  feebleness  and  anguish  of  body,  his  pow<  r 
ot  leadership,  his  undaunted  courage,  and  the  religious  fervor  and 
fancy  that  graced  his  most  practical  achievements.  Not  the  least 
marvelous  of  the  gifts  of  Columbus  was  his  extraordinary  power  of 
detailed  observation,  which  attracted  the  profound  admiration  of 
Humboldt.  Not  a  change  in  compass  or  current  not  a  wisp  of 
floating  weed,  or  flight  of  birds,  escaped  his  studious  eye,  and  his 
recorded  inferences  and  conclusions  would  alone  place  him  among 
the  wisest  of  mankind. 

The  N.  Y.  Times  :  This  translation  of  one  of  the  most  minute 
and  painstaking  of  the  many  lives  of  Columbus  has  appeared  very 
opportunely,  at  a  time  when  the  four  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
great  discoverer's  crowning  exnloit  is  so  near  at  hand.  Though 
evidently  written  by  a  warm  admirer  of  the  famous  Genoese,  the 
work  is  happily  free  from  that  extravagant  and  unreasoning  adula- 
tion with  which  Johnson  was  bedaubed  by  Boswell,  and  Frederick 
the  Great  by  Carlyle.  The  hero's  shortcomings  are  told  as  plainly 
as  the  great  exploits  that  redeemed  them  ;  but,  while  frankly  admit- 
ting them,  the  author  has  labored  zealously  and  not  unsuccessfully  to 
show  that  Columbus,  when  judged  by  the  standard  ot  his  own  age, 
was  a  man  of  singularly  blameless  life,  elevated  sentiments,  and  al- 
most unique  charity  and  unselfishness.  .  .  .  No  one  who  has 
studied  these  volumes  can  close  them  without  a  feeling  of  burn- 
ing indignation  at  the  mean  and  miserable  ingratitude  that  re- 
quited the  noblest  service  ever  rendered  by  mortal  man  to  thankless 
and  heartless  royalty. 


THE    WOEKS    OF 

ORESTES  A.  BROWNSON 


COLLECTED  AND  ARRANGED  BY 


HENRY  F.  BROWNSON, 


Twenty  Volumes,  8vo.  Cloth,  $60.     Half-morocco,  $100. 

A  LIBERAL  REDUCTION  FOR  CASH. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  NOTICES  BY  THE  PRESS. 

"  No  writer  among  us  has  done  more  for  the  political  education  of  the  people  of 
the  nation.  These  volumes  can  never  be  popular  ;  they  are  fit  only  for  the  think- 
ers, but  our  rising  statesmen,  both  Catholic  and  Protestant,  can  find  no  better 
preparation  for  their  highest  political  service  than  to  read,  mark,  learn  and 
inwardly  digest  what  Dr.  Brownson  has  written  on  the  higher  politics  in  his  capac- 
ity as  a  Catholic  publicist.  He  was  at  once  a  statesman  and  a  philosopher,  and 
his  different  publications  are  among  the  most  valuable  contributions  to  our  political 
and  philosophical  literature." — The  Boston  Herald. 

"His  style,  based  on  the  best  English  models,  gives  an  additional  charm  to  all  he 
wrote.  He  stands  out  certainly  unsurpassed,  perhaps  unequalled,  by  any  of  our 
countrymen,  in  his  masterly  handling  of  the  mother  tongue.  But  the  beautiful 
workmanship  is  as  nothing  compared  to  the  glorious  materialwhich  it  adorns.  It 
is  like  the  mantle  of  gold  which  enwrapped  the  matchless  Olympian  Jove  of 
Phidias.  His  logical  power  is  simply  wonderful:  no  sophistry,  no  specious  reason- 
ing of  error  or  unbelief  can  stand  before  it.  And  coupled  with  this  is  the  gift  so 
rare  among  profound  thinkers  and  subtle  dialecticians  of  bringing  home  his  tri- 
umphant process  of  reasoning  to  the  minds  even  of  ordinary  readers  with  clearness 
and  precision. 

"Persons  who  have  an  unbroken,  complete  series  of  the  successive  numbers 
of  Bro7vnson's  Quarterly  Review  are  greatly  mistaken  if  they  suppose  that  in  it  they 
have  a  full  collection  of  Brownson's  writings.  Many  of  his  most  important  papers 
were  given  to  the  public  through  other  channels  and  in  other  ways.  Those,  too, 
that  appeared  in  the  Review  followed  each  other  in  the  order  of  time,  and  as  var- 
ious circumstances  suggested.  But  his  son  and  posthumous  editor,  Henry  F. 
Brownson,  has  collected  all  his  most  important  writings,  and  has  arranged  them 
rather  in  a  logical  than  an  historical  order.  This  gives  an  additional  value  to  Dr. 
Brownson's  WORKS,  as  now  republished,  through  the  strength  which  one  article, 
following  another  in  order  of  thought,  gives  to  that  which  succeeds  it."- -American 
Catholic  Quarterly  Review. 

"  The  English  language  in  Dr.  Brownson's  grasp  is  a  weapon  to  .slay  and  a 
talisman  to  raise  to  life.     Never  was  argumentation  made  more  delightful  reading; 


IV  ADVERTISEMENT. 

never  did  a  teacher  instruct  more  by  the  aid  of  his  pupils'  highest  faculties.  It  is 
indeed  a  most  enviable  gift  to  be  able  so  to  write,  or  rather  to  be  able  so  to 
think,  discern,  judge,  penetrate,  decide,  concerning  the  greatest  topics  of 
the  human  understanding,  and  then  to  clothe  one's  conclusions  in  language 
as  adequate  to  express  as  human  language  well  can  be.  Clearness,  force, 
purity,  vividness,  loftiness,  are  terms  applicable  to  Dr.  Brownson's  literary  style 
True,  besides  the  higher  class  of  students  of  fine  writing,  the  general  reading 
public  will  not  study  him,  or  any  such  order  of  men,  merely  for  the  sake  of  his  liter- 
ary excellences.  But  let  one  have  any  shadow  of  interest  in  the  great  questions  he 
treats,  and  every  page  displays  the  possession  of  a  style  which  is  the  rarest  of 
literary  gifts.  For  his  writing,  being  colorless  of  those  lesser  beauties  which  catch 
the  eye  but  to  arrest  its  deepest  glances,  and  absolutely  free  from  the  least  obscurity, 
becomes  the  instinctive  expression  of  a  most  enlightened  mind.  It  is  a  magnetic 
medium  uniting  the  master's  personality,  the  disciple's  understanding,  and  the  sub- 
ject's essence." —  The  Catholic  World. 

"  They  deserve  a  place  in  the  library  of  every  fair-minded  American  citizen. 
Printed  and  bound  in  a  manner  highly  creditable  to  the  publisher,  they  cannot 
suffer  by  comparison  with  the  works  of  any  standard  author.  The  devoted 
editor  has  done  his  work  with  manifest  care,  accuracy,  good  taste,  and  sound  judg- 
ment. The  volumes  are  uniform  in  size  and  appearance,  each  containing  about  594 
pages, and  having  a  carefully  prepared  table  of  contents. 

''The  indexes  are  complete,  accurate  and  admirably  arranged.  They  bear 
witness  to  careful  and  painstaking  labor  on  the  part  of  the  editor.  The  'Index  of 
Titles'  covers  twenty-three  pages.  The  many  articles  and  reviews  published, 
about  940  in  number,  are  appropriately  indicated  under  this  head,  due  reference 
being  made  to  the  volumes  and  pages  where  they  may  be  found.  These  deal  with  a 
great  variety  of  subjects — in  fact,  every  thing  inviting  discussion  and  comment,  or 
concerning  the  interests  and  welfare  of  humanity,  during  the  author's  long  and  busy 
life, — and  every  subject  treated  appears  to  gain  in  interest,  importance,  and  lustre 
from  the  charm  of  his  gifted  pen.  The  'Index  of  Subjects'  comprises  171  pages, 
and  enables  the  reader  to  refer  at  once  to  the  volume  and  page  where  each  and 
every  noteworthy  matter  is  presented.  To  prepare  these  indexes  was  manifestly 
a  most  laborious  task,  but  well  and  ably  has  it  been  accomplished." —  The  Ave  Maria. 

"It  has  been  conceded  that  the  late  Dr.  Brownson  was  a  clear-minded  and  inde- 
pendent thinker,  but  until  his  scattered  writings  were  brought  together  it  was  not 
apparent  that  in  religion  and  philosophy  he  had  wrought  with  the  large  purpose 
and  the  wide  sweep  through  the  realm  of  thought  which  is  now  apparent  :  but  a 
study  of  the  volumes  in  the  collected  edition  of  his  writings  shows  that  in  the  closely 
related  subjects  of  philosophy  and  religion  he  wrought  with  the  force  of  a  master, 
and  was  always  consistent  with  his  purpose  and  aim.  His  writings  all  tend  toward 
the  Roman  Church  as  the  ark  of  religion  in  the  world,  but  they  have  the  singular 
meiit  among  the  philosophical  productions  of  the  age,  that  they  do  not  sever  phi- 
losophy from  Christianity,  but  show  the  strong  and  true  affiliations  between  the  two 
in  a  way  that  does  not  compromise  the  essential  integrity  of  either.  Dr.  Brownson 
is  a  constructive  thinker,  and  his  writings  are  more  useful  in  the  present  effort 
to  place  our  religious  thought  upon  a  right  basis  than  those  of  any  other  American 
They  include  more  ;  they  mean  more  ;  they  better  harmonize  reason  with  religion; 
they  organize  religious  thought  upon  a  basis  that  can  be  depended  upon.  The 
whole  body  of  reasonable  truth  is  here  worked  over  by  a  remarkably  keen  and  hon- 
est mind.     It  may  almost  be  said  that  what  Thomas  Aquinas  did  for  the  scholastic 


ADVERTISEMENT.  V 

philosophy  of  the  middle  ages,  Dr.  Brownson  has  done  for  the  philosophical  ex- 
pression of  the  truths  of  religion  and  philosophy  in  the  terms  of  modern  thought. 
One  rather  marvels  at  Dr.  Brownson's  versatility  in  these  papers,  and  in  the 
almost  unexampled  range  of  discussion  to  which  the  several  volumes  bear  witness. 
He  had  great  confidence  in  himself,  but  his  writings  more  than  justify  it.  He  was 
a  strong  and  clear  thinker  and  knew  his  ground. 

"  Whoever  doubts  the  high  position  here  assigned  to  Dr.  Brownson,  needs  only 
to  study  his  writings  without  prejudice,  and  measure  calmly  and  slowly  the  scope  of 
his  thought  to  become  assured  of  its  correctness.  He  will  then  find  that  Dr.  Brown- 
son was  quite  underrated  while  living,  and  that  no  American  thinker  has  done  more 
thorough,  substantial,  or  constructive  work.  No  more  effective  monument  could 
be  erected  to  his  memory  than  the  publication  of  his  writings,  and  though  differing 
widely  from  him  in  religious  opinion,  candor  compels  us  to  acknowledge  heartily 
and  thoroughly  the  qualities  in  his  work  which  give  him  a  high  place  among  the 
religious  and  philosophical  thinkers  of  the  age.  The  conviction  has  slowly  grown 
from  repeated  reading  of  the  volumes  already  published,  that  the  intelligent  and 
honest  study  of  his  writings  will  do  more  to  prepare  clergymen  and  teachers  for  the 
adequate  instruction  of  their  fellow  men  in  the  truths  of  religion  and  philosophy 
and  broadened  life  than  they  are  yet  aware  of.  It  is  very  rare  that  a  great  philoso- 
pher is  a  confirmed  believer  in  Christianity,  and  a  thorough  student  of  both 
in  their  correspondence.  Dr.  Brownson  has  the  merit  of  having  spent  his  life  in 
their  study  without  losing  his  faith  in  either,  and  this  edition  of  his  works 
will  prepare  the  way  for  a  better  appreciation  of  his  thinking  at  the  hands  of 
the  present  generation." — New  York  Times. 

"In  the  writings  of  Orestes  A.  Brownson,  as  they  were  first  given  to  the  world  in 
the  pages  of  the  Democratic  Review,  Brownson's  Review,  and  other  periodicals  and 
detached  volumes,  we  are  struck  with  his  wonderful  power  of  logic  and  with  the 
strength  and  eloquence  of  his  style.  But  it  is  only  now,  when  they  are  arranged 
and  brought  into  their  proper  connection  by  his  son,  Major  Henry  F.  Brownson,  in 
this  complete  edition,  that  we  see  the  full  force  and  symmetry  of  his  whole  thought 
on  all  the  great  questions  discussed  in  this  country. 

"  A  large  portion  of  the  essays  in  these  volumes  were  hurriedly  written  against 
the  views  and  doctrines  the  author  was  combating,  and  while  this  adds  to  their  fresh- 
ness and  attractiveness  for  the  reader  it  necessarily  detracts  somewhat  from  their 
completeness  as  treatises  on  the  subjects  under  consideration  if  taken  separately  and 
without  reference  to  what  he  has  elsewhere  written  on  those  subjects.  This  was, 
perhaps,  the  principal  cause  of  the  frequent  misunderstanding  of  his  views  of  which 
Dr.  Brownson  was  accustomed  to  complain.  His  real  meaning  was  often  mistaken 
by  those  who  only  read  an  article  or  two  in  a  review  and  judged  it  without  refer- 
ence to  his  previous  writings  and  whole  line  of  thought.  In  the  volumes  before  us, 
however,  the  writings  are  so  arranged  under  the  different  heads  to  which  they 
belong  that  the  unity  of  the  thought  becomes  clear  and  the  meaning  of  one  article 
which  might  be  thought  ambiguous  or  carried  to  an  extreme  is  determined  by  what 
immediately  precedes  or  follows. 

"In  the  course  of  his  philosophical  writings  Brownson  analyzes  and  explains  the 
system  of  almost  every  philosopher  that  ever  lived,  from  Plato  and  Pythagoras  to 
Gioberti  and  Sir  William  Hamilton.  No  one  ever  more  fully  possessed  the  power 
to  seize  an  author's  meaning  and  explain  it  in  a  few  sentences.  It  was  this  power, 
combined  with  his  evident  fairness  in  argument  and  criticism,  that  caused  him  to  be 
called  'a  born  reviewer.'    In  all  his  controversies  he  seeks  to  present  his  opponent's 


VI  ADVERTISEMENT. 

doctrine  and  argument  in  their  strongest,  not  their  weakest  form,  his  aim  being,  as 
he  has  said,  to  secure  the  triumph  of  the  truth,  not  a  mere  personal  victory  over  his 
adversary. 

"But  perhaps  the  most  wonderful  trait  of  Dr.  Brownson's  mind  was  the  ability 
to  direct  his  investigations  to  an  immense  variety  of  subjects.  There  is  scarcely  a 
matter  of  political,  social,  or  philosophical  interest  which  he  has  not  discussed, 
scarcely  a  theory  in  science  or  theology  on  which  he  has  not  something  to 
say  in  these  volumes." — New  York  Herald. 

"Dr.  Orestes  A.  Brownson  compelled  the  attention  of  thoughtful  men,  while 
living,  to  what  he  said,  and  there  has  been  a  growing  demand  for  his  writings 
since  his  death.  He  was  one  of  the  few  Americans  who  did  not  give  up  his  inde- 
pendent thinking  when  he  entered  the  Roman  church,  and  his  loyalty  to  the 
pope  never  interfered  with  his  fidelity  to  the  American  republic.  He  did  a  great 
work  in  religious  and  political  philosophy,  and  was  one  of  the  leading  minds  of  the 
century  in  America.  Such  a  man's  thought  does  not  easily  die,  and  his  son,  Mr. 
Henry  F.  Brownson,  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  has  at  length  recognized  the  necessity 
for  the  republication  of  his  writings,  partly  because  they  cannot  otherwise  be  had, 
and  partly  because  he  is  the  fairest  interpreter  of  the  Roman  church  to  the  Ameri- 
can people  who  has  yet  appeared.  The  collected  writings  will  be  found  almost 
an  exhaustless  treasury  of  discussion  in  the  sphere  of  politics,  philosophy,  and 
religion. 

"The  prejudice  may  exist  in  some  directions  that  Dr.  Brownson  was  so  much 
given  up  to  the  Roman  communion  that  it  is  not  worth  while  for  Protestants  to 
consult  them.  Unquestionably  much  of  his  writing  is  thoroughly  partisan  ;  he  was 
a  good  hater,  and  liked  to  demolish  shams  ;  but  the  problems  of  philosophy  are  the 
same  for  both  Protestant  and  Catholic,  because  truth  is  one  and  eternally  the  same, 
and  Dr.  Brownson  has  stated  and  illuminated  these  problems  in  such  a  way  that 
intelligent  readers  and  thinkers  cannot  afford  to  overlook  his  thought.  These  vol- 
umes ought  to  be  widely  read  ;  their  thought  has  come  to  stay  ;  and,  should  some 
deal  almost  exclusively  with  papal  matters,  they,  nevertheless,  are  intertwined 
through  the  courses  of  history  with  present  thought,  and  possess  a  certain  present 
value.  Mr.  Brownson  is  rendering  a  great  service  to  Christian  philosophy  in 
America  in  making  his  father's  writings  accessible  and  in  bringing  them  out  ;n 
good  style  ;  and  the  collected  works,  though  seemingly  formidable  for  the  private 
library,  will  be  indispensable  to  all  who  are  to  do  the  intelligent  thinking  for  the  rest 
of  the  century." — Boston  Daily  Advertiser. 

"  The  twentieth  and  final  volume  of  the  writings  of  Orestes  A.  Brownson,  col- 
lected, arranged,  and  published  at  Detroit  by  his  son,  Henry  F.  Brownson,  con- 
tains sundry  explanatory,  and  miscellaneous  papers,  and  an  index  of  subjects 
embracing  all  the  volumes  and  filling  nearly  two  hundred  pages,  which  is  a  marvel 
of  painstaking  labor.  The  son  certainly  has  reared  a  noble  monument  to  his  father's 
memory  in  collecting  these  writings.  The  elder  Brownson  was  one  of  the  freshest 
thinkers,  ablest  disputants,  and  skilled  writers  of  English  we  have  ever  had. 
Scarcely  any  reader  could  fail  to  get  intellectual  quickening  and  profit  from  reading 
his  essays,  if  only  as  specimens  of  keen  English."—  Boston  Journal. 

'  Dr.  Brownson  was  in  no  sense  the  founder  of  a  school,  any  more  than  Em- 
erson was.  But  like  Emerson,  he  has  exerted  an  influence  upon  the  thought  of  his 
time  and  age,  and  upon  the  thought  of  thousands  who  are  utterly  unconscious 
of  such  influence.       His  writings,  now  collected  for  the  first  time,  are  not  only  a 


ADVERTISEMENT.  yil 

mine  of  literary  and  philosophical  wealth,  but  one  of  the  best  studies  extant  in  the 
art  of  the  essayist." — Detroit  Free  Press. 

"The  late  Dr.  Brownson  was  undoubtedly  the  greatest  and  most  original  thinker 
that  America  has  ever  produced.  This  fact  is  admitted  by  non-Catholics  as  well 
as  by   Catholics.    For  profound  philosophical  or  metaphysical  speculation,  cogency 

of  reasoning,  logical  force,  and  dialectic  skill,  he  is  facile  princeps 

In  the  higher  branches  of  philosophical  research  which  includes  such  subjects 
as  ontology  and  metaphysical  theology,  he  was  profoundly  original,  and,  as  has  been 
truly  remarked  by  one  of  his  admirers,  he  has  laid  down  the  basis  of  natural  religion 
with  all  the  profundity  of  Plato,  and  all  the  precision  of  Aristotle.  Typographically 
the  volumes  cannot  be  surpassed.  The  type  is  clear,  the  paper  of  the  finest  and 
best  The  book  is  certainly  a  credit  to  Detroit,  and  could  not  be  excelled  by  any 
publishing  house  in  the  country." — Toronto  Tribune. 

"Dr.  Orestes  A.  Brownson  was  a  man  of  gigantic  intellect,  profound  and 
varied  study,  and  nothing  seemed  too  deep,  nor  any  subject  too  great  for  him.  He 
fearlessly  met  and  refuted  error  wherever  found,  and  no  matter  how  ably  concealed 
by  fine  phrases  and  plausible  reasoning,  he  exposed  it  in  so  ^ble  and  direct 
and  exhaustive  a  manner  that  nothing  further  was  left  to  be  said  on  the  sub- 
ject. To  any  young  man  tainted  with  the  materialistic  tendencies  of  the  day,  no 
better  course  of  reading  could  be  recommended  than  a  series  of  Dr.  Brownson's  es- 
says. If  carefully  read  they  would  have  the  same  effect  on  his  moral  and  intellect- 
ual nature  that  a  season  of  the  mountains  or  seaside,  inhaling  the  pure,  invigorating 
air,  laden  with  the  stimulating  odors  of  wood  and  sea,  would  have  on  him  physically 
after  spending  years  in  a  crowded  city,  breathing  its  vitiated  atmosphere,  and  hav- 
ing his  sensibilities  blunted  by  its  dissipations  and  distractions." — American 
Catholic  News. 

"  No  clergyman  or  intelligent  layman,  can  afford  not  to  have  his  library  graced 
with  Brownson's  works.  They  are  within  the  reach  of  purse,  and  should  be  within 
the  reach  of  scholarly  taste  It  would  be  a  serious  reflection  on  the  'learned  pro- 
fession' not  to  possess,  read,  and  study  them.  It  would  be  an  especial  reproach 
on  Catholic  Americans,  laying  claim  to  more  than  ordinary  intelligence, 
not  to  honor  thus  their  distinguished  countryman,  whose  fame  and  name  as  a  pub- 
licist, polemic,  and  metaphysician,  cover  both  hemispheres.  In  all  of  which  his 
English  is  pure  and  classical,  his  reasoning  powerful  and  incisive  ;  sophistry 
writhes  before  his  penetrating  and  dissecting  mind  ;  falsehood  and  sham  are  un- 
masked by  his  keen  logic. 

"His  political  writings  are  of  special  interest  to  Americans,  as  they  deal  largely 
and  learnedly  with  questions  intimately  and  closely  connected  with  the  social  and 
political  phases  of  our  country.  Very  few,  in  fact  hardly  any,  of  his  political  es- 
says, are  obsolete.  They  are  as  full  of  interest  to-day  as  when  first  published, 
and  can  be  read  with  as  much  profit  now  as  they  were  then.  They  show  a  whole- 
some independence  of  thought,  and  freedom  and  clearness  of  expression  that  is 
positively  refreshing.  Many  of  our  so-called  essays  and  reviews  have  a  soporofic 
tendency.  Brownson's  essays  and  reviews,  no  matter  on  what  subject,  have  the 
contrary  effect.  They  keep  the  reader's  attention  riveted  from  the  first  line  to  the 
last.  They  leave  an  impress  for  good  on  the  reader's  mind.  Brownson  never 
.wrote  a  line  for  an  ad captandum  effect.  He  wrote  as  he  felt.  He  was  honest  in 
nis  views,  and  fearless  in  expressing  them.  For  this  he  was  often  maligned,  more 
often  misunderstood.     He  was  too  honest  for  his  day.      Since  he  has  passed  away, 


Vlll  ADVERTISEMENT. 

much  of  what  was  then  wrongly  or  maliciously  interpreted  in  his  writings  is  now 
accepted  as  true  and  sound. 

"Brownson  abhorred  superficial  writing  and  thinking.  He  argued  from  first 
principles.  On  these  he  built  and  thought  and  wrote.  Seldom  did  he  err  in  "his 
conclusions,  which  he  expressed  in  language  clear,  acute,  profound. 

•"His  reviews  of  books  and  other  publications  are  unequalled.  In  them  he  gives 
the  reader  an  insight  into  the  depth  and  breadth  of  his  mind  and  scholarly  attain- 
ments. Whatever  he  reviewed  in  the  literary  world  he  reviewed  honestly  and 
conscientiously,  giving  praise  where  due,  and  picking  flaws  and  exposing  error 
where  found." — The  Catholic  Universe. 

"  His  power  as  a  writer  lies  principally  in  the  exposition  of  the  principles  of 
faith  or  reason.  When  he  developed  these  principles  and  their  consequences, 
he  seemed  armed  with  the  club  and  the  might  of  Hercules.  With  these  he  crushed 
the  Hydra  of  error  with  its  many  heads  of  heresy,  infidelity,  and  atheism.  His 
style  was  clear  and  forcible,  and  so  likewise  were  the  trains  of  thought  and  reason- 
ing of  which  it  was  the  expression.  'A  certain  childlike  simplicity  and  candor,' 
says  the  Rev.  C.  L.  Jenkins,  'an  apparent  love  of  truth  which  sought  for  no  disguise, 
and  a  boldness  of  spirit  which  took  no  account  of  earthly  considerations,  gave  to  his 
writings  a  singular  charm  and  influence.' 

"We  have  now  had  frequent  occasions  of  commenting  on  the  style  of  Brownson  in 
reviewing  one  after  another  of  the  many  volumes  of  his  works  that  have  already  ap- 
peared. The  more  we  become  conversant  with  his  articles,  the  more  satisfied  we 
are  of  the  merits  by  which  they  are  marked.  The  fourth  part  of  the  writings  in 
defence  of  the  Church  appears  to  us  exceedingly  valuable.  The  doctrinal  articles 
are  singularly  lucid,  orthodox,  and  moderate  ;  indeed,  we  doubt  whether  the  next 
generation  of  English-reading  Catholics  will  have,  .  .  .  any  complete  body 
of  works  defending  and  illustrating  the  Catholic  religion  more  luminous  and  read- 
able than  that  of  Orestes  Brownson  We  are  struck  by  the  lucid  and  brilliant . 
writing  of  this  great  doctor,  and  goon  reading,  entranced  by  the  music  and  wisdom 
of  the  strain.  We  never  get  weary  of  the  volumes  of  Dr.  Brownson's  works,  for 
though  many,  they  are  void  of  repetition,  and  always  charming,  through  their 
easy,  fluent,  and  attractive  style,  which  flows  like  milk  and  honey." —  The  London 
Tablet. 

Also  taken  from  Brownson's  Works  and  sold  Separately, 
bound  in  cloth,  8vo. 

THE  SPIRIT-RAPPER  ;  An  Autobiography,    -    -    $1.00 
AN   ESSAY  IN   REFUTATION  OF  ATHEISM,    ,60 
THE  TWO  BROTHERS  ;  or,  Why  are  you  a  Prot- 
estant ?--------         60 

UNCLE  JACK  AND  HIS  NEPHEW  ;  or  Conversa- 
tions of  an  Old  Fogy  and  a  Young  American.     .00 

Order  from  your  bookseller,  or  from 

HENRY  F.  BROWNSON. 
33  &  35  West  Congress  St .,  Detroit  Mich. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

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